


Ghosts and Raiders

by Ryzi



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-01-17 04:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1373560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryzi/pseuds/Ryzi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its been one year since Handsome Jack was defeated, and you'd think these guys would get a break right?<br/>WRONG!<br/>Witness our favorite heroes face a new enemy that could end life on Pandora as they know it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Starting Up Again

Moxxi’s bar was booming with excitement. It was the start of a new year. Everyone in sanctuary was swarmed under blurring lights and booming baselines as the excitement kept rising. Citizens bumped into one another without a care as their bodies thrashed about to the music. It really was something to celebrate, living a whole year on Pandora meant that you had survived another year without falling prey to bandits, skags, rakks, the skull shivers, and most importantly to Hyperion. But that was all over now. Handsome Jack was dead, the majority of Hyperion troops had either been killed or were left for dead out in the wastelands, and everything seemed about as right as it could get with the world.  
  
"Alright. If I could just have everyone's attention." Roland declared, standing up on the bar counter. A wave of calmness seemed to wash over the crowd as the others fell silent and their eyes focused on the leader, "It's been one hell of a year. And I think you all know why. But we did it. We made it through another year. And maybe this one won't be as chaotic as the last." A chuckle floated around the room.  
  
"SPEECH! SPEECH!" Salvador chanted, pumping his fist in the air.  
  
"I'm getting there." Roland laughed, "Anyways.  While it may have been a year of miracles, let's not forget our fallen." Everyone bowed their heads, and if one listened close enough, they would hear Mordecai utter the name "Bloodwing" under his breath, "With all that said and done, and the Vault Key ours, I think it's safe to say...good work everyone, here's to another year!" And with that the Soldier raised a bottle and laughed. The room erupted in cheers and laughter as the party started back up again with some nonsensical song from the eighties.    
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
From outside the bar, CL4P-TP was propped up against a dumpster, pouring alcohol into his circuits.  
  
"Seriously...is this what we're doing now? What the *Hic* is a 'Wang Chung' anyways?" The robot slurred as a Bandit-looking man strolled past him and into the building. He held a pistol down by his side and smoothly walked past the party-goers, ignoring their strange looks and suspicious glares.  
  
In one swift motion the Bandit stopped behind Zer0--whom was sitting up at the bar --and pressed the barrel of his gun to the Assassin's helmet with a click. The crowd fell silent once more.  
  
A florescent "LOL" popped up over the visor followed by a scoff as Zer0 rose from his seat to face his “attacker”.  
  
The man wasn’t anyone worth noticing. Just the run of the mill Bandit who probably tried to mess around with the Fast-Travel and ended up in Sanctuary who was probably on some self-proclaimed suicide quest to fulfill some “greater destiny” he had thought up upon arriving. Zer0 glanced over the Bandit once, then twice, just to give the guy his five seconds of fame before wasting him. There was nothing really exciting, average over-layers of clothing, eccentric patched littered his chest—one of which being a really shitty looking ghost, and a face mask with two “scary” white eyes painted on it.  
  
The Bandit dropped his gun when Zer0 drew his blade and fell to his knees. A chuckle echoed from the Assassin before he picked the unfortunate bandit up by the collar and hurled him into the dumpster outside.  
  
“ AHA! I give that ahhhhh…a nine!” Salvador laughed.  
  
“No way! It was totally a ten! I think the guy shit himself!” Gaige corrected.  
  
"Alright alright. Ten!"  
  
Maya just rolled her eyes at her companions, shook her head, and smiled; glad to see everyone was having the time of their lives. She glanced around for a moment, looking for the head vault hunter, whom she found sitting at a booth with Lilith, the two of them talking and laughing all the while. The Siren focused he gaze on Roland who could feel her eyes burning into the side of his head. He turned to look at her. Maya made a pointing motion to the top of the roof and the Soldier nodded, allowing her access to wherever she was going.  
  
The Siren hopped from her seat on the ledge of a booth and sauntered outside where she saw CL4P-TP woozily singing along to the song.  
  
"Ayyyyyy where'ya goiiiin?" The annoying little robot slurred in a metallic laugh.  
  
"Away from you." Maya retorted almost instantly, turning to face the ladder that led up to the top of the building. As the Siren scaled the ladder, she could hear a gruff humming--almost drowned out by the bass--come from the roof.  
  
"Glad to see you're having a good time." She smiled, pushing herself up onto the platform.  
  
Krieg was humming his own tune and doing what looked like a mix between the chicken dance and the cha cha slide. Even if it looked ridiculous, he was having fun and not murdering anyone. Maya brought a hand up to her mouth, trying to stifle her laugh.  
  
"I SUMMONED THE GODDESS AND THE SKIES SMILED DOWN IN GRAAACE" The psycho grumbled, thrashing about with a jump-turn to face the Siren.  
  
She couldn't hold it in, Maya burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she nearly doubled over.  Krieg instinctively ran over to the Siren, his eyes filled with worry. He cautiously held out his hands preparing to catch her if she should collapse.  
  
"Damn...even her laugh is beautiful" The inner Krieg sighed," Hey. She's fine, give her space." But the motor half refused to budge.  
  
Maya stabilized herself on the Psycho as her laughing subsided followed by a tear. It really was an adventure with him; Krieg was so unpredictable--usually in the positive sense of the word--that he kept her on edge. The Siren regained her composure and stood up straight, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.  
  
"I wish you could come down into the bar, but--"  
  
" _We're afraid we might hurt someone_."  
"--you might accidently hu...I mean...make everyone jealous with your awesome dance skills." Maya corrected herself, unsure if the mention of harming others might trigger some reaction.  
  
" _Ask her to stay for a bit, company's always nice. Just don--_ "  
  
"POUND DOWN, MAKE 'EM BLEEEED"  
  
" _...do that._ "  
The Siren raised a brow and cocked her head slightly. Krieg stepped back a pace and sat down, harshly patting his hand down on the roof, signaling Maya to take a seat. Maya complied and found a spot next to the Psycho.  
  
"WASSAP SHAWTIES?" Tiny Tina's voice called as she found her way up on the roof, "I tells ya, that is one sick party goin on!" The thirteen-year-old munched on a slice of pizza she had taken, eyeing up the two vault hunters and smirking, "Well well. What have we heeeere?" The demolitions expert began rattling off on some tale about "Madam Laquan-Shaquisha" and her husband and how they met.  
  
"Calm...Down...I can't...We know her...Don't we...yes...I feel...." The stern inner voice began to falter. Krieg kept shaking his head, a soft painful groan passing his lips, his breathing became labored and he grabbed his head.  
  
"--An so I's all...Hey...is he...okay?" Tina asked, all bravado now gone from her voice as she took a few steps back toward the ladder, ready to flee.  
  
"Tina...I think he needs to be alone for a little. Okay?" Maya asked, her left hand twitching, preparing to Phase Lock her friend to keep him from going on a rampage.  
  
"Yeah...Uh...See ya shawty..." Tina scaled down the ladder and back into the bar where the party was as lively as ever.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Heya Roland?" Ellie asked, pushing her way through the crowd toward the leader of the Raiders, "Imma get goin' I think Scooter's tryin' ta make a move and stuff."  
  
Roland waved his hand, "It was great to see you Ellie. Happy new year."  
  
"You too." She bade farewell before heading out of the bar and to the station.  
  
"Sooo...You really think this year is going to be better than the last?" Lilith asked, taking a sip of cola.  
  
"Well I don't think it could get much worse." Roland replied with a smile. The Firehawk shrugged and rapped her knuckles against the table.  
  
"So you don't jinx us." She clarified in which Roland let out a soft "ah" with a nod. The Soldier turned his head to look at the crowd, and to avoid the awkward tension around him and the Siren.  
  
Axton and Salvador were having a staring contest of sorts while arm wrestling. The dwarf spat in his opponents face causing the Commando to slug him in the jaw. The two brawled it out for a moment or two before resuming their previous battle of strength. Mordecai was slouched over in the corner of the bar, going for a new record of bottles downed before he passed out in an alcoholic coma; it was a surprise that he hadn't gone into liver failure yet. Zer0 was in the back by the Jukebox drumming his fingers to the rhythm of the beat, a bright music note bobbed in front of his visor. Gaige was proudly telling her own tales of her beloved Death-Trap to Brick who had a sleeping Tina curled up against his arm.  
  
"Yeah. You're right. This will be a good year." Lilith sighed contently, patting her companion on the shoulder.  
  
The voices of the crowd were drowned out by the music, all voices but one.  
  
"DAMN IT SCOOTER! WHAT'DYA DO TO THE FAST TRAVEL?" Ellie screamed at her brother, storming back into the bar and swatting him upside the head.  
  
"Gahhh! I din't do nothin Els. NOOOOTHIN! It's prolly just actin up. I'll look at it after the FIREWORKS!" The mechanic emphasized his last word.  
  
"Why yes Sir Reginald...I--FIREWORKS!" Tina was startled from her slumber, "RIGHT-O!" The spunky teen hopped from the booth and skipped outside.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
After Krieg's little episode, he and Maya sat in silence as he recovered to the best of his ability. Both sides of the Psycho felt bad for his outburst, the calmer "saner" side felt bad for nearly blacking out over something so stranger, and the obnoxious "insane" side just felt bad for scaring his "pretty blue lady". The Siren on the other hand was trying to piece together why her companion reacted so strangely, maybe he still hadn't gotten over scaring Tina that one time? Maybe he had a bad incident with smaller people? Maybe he was just bad with kids? Who knew? And since he couldn't use his words very well, Maya was left guessing.  
  
Krieg glanced over at the woman sitting next to him and let out an inaudible sigh. Without any warning, the Psycho draped his arm around the Siren, making her jolt and look up at him, but Krieg just stared off into the distance as if he wasn't doing anything.  
  
"5...4...3...2...1!" A collective chant echoed around Sanctuary.  
  
Rockets shot up in the sky, illuminating the dark expanse with florescent color. Krieg jumped to his feet and threw his fist in the air.  
  
"BURN! BURN THE SKY! HAHAHA! SO RED! LIKE BLOOD!" He cackled.  
  
More and more explosions lit up the night sky, earning cheers from the crowd. Green streaked the sky, orange danced, blue erupted. Huge flowering bursts, long streaming glitter trails, and flash bangs nearly deafened everyone in a mile radius of the bar. Smoke drifted away like the ghosts of last year. The scent of gun powder and burnt paper filled the air.  It truly was something to celebrate.  
  
One final rocket went off, the explosion in the shape of the Vault symbol, hollers and cheers erupted, applause boomed like thunder.  
  
"Happy New Year’s Sanctuary." Roland saluted and smiled.


	2. All Over Again

"Aw man…just like old times eh guys?" Axton laughed, shooting down a bandit. The six vault hunters were out in Liar's Burg a few days after the party, taking out some straggling bandits around Captain Flynt's ship.

"Si amigo!" Salvador grinned as he used his two assault rifles to mow down a small mob of midgets.

"AHHH HELL! DAMN IT!" Gaige cried, throwing her goggles down in the snow out of frustration.

"Heh, calm it down there." Maya chuckled, patting the Mechromancer on the back, "What happened?"

"Scooter wants me back in Sanctuary; he has some lame-ass project and asked for my help. But when someone gives you the opportunity to show off your skills, you do it." The brunette replied with a hero stance and held her hand up in the air, "See ya back in Sanctuar—DAMN IT I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" She screeched into her ECHO before dashing off.

"And then there were fi—no wait…four. Where'd Zer0 go?" The Siren asked, looking around, the others shrugged, "…Oh well…It's not the first time." She sighed, heaving her shoulders. Zer0 was never one for working in a group over long periods of time.

"Heh, look at that guys, first badass of the year." The Commando huffed, reloading his gun and aiming it at a badass raging Goliath, firing at its chest.

"Who knocked off its helmet?" Maya asked, lifting the monstrous being in the air with her Siren ability.

"Who cares?" The Gunzerker retorted, opening fire on the suspended giant.

The Goliath struggled and grunted, thrashing its loose head around and screamed profanities as the team pumped it full of lead.

"YOU'LL MAKE A TASTY MEAT-POPSICLE!" Krieg bellowed as he swung his Buzz Axe cleanly through the Goliath's torso, shredding it in half with a glorious spray of blood and gore.

"Awhawww! Nice one hermano! " Salvador laughed, holding up a hand to high-five the Psycho. Krieg returned the gesture, but with his skull.

" _Ah close enough._ " The inner voice snickered. The small group took a moment to recover and reload before continuing on their slaughter spree. More Bandits stumbled from their hiding places and opened fire.

Salvador grabbed one unfortunate enemy and pinned him face first into the snow, with his shoe pressing down his spine and both his arms pulling the man backwards by his wrists. The dwarf laughed manically and kept pulling until he heard a satisfying crack come from the now severed spine. He then lifted the deceased man from the ground and hurled him towards another Bandit. While the other Bandit was distracted, Maya suspended him in a Phase Lock, focusing her power to draw the surrounding gang to the orb. She smirked and narrowed her eyes, twitching her fingers, as more and more Bandits were forcibly pulled towards the Phase Lock the Siren thrust her fist forward with more focus and caused a small fiery nova to set all the enemies on fire.

"Axton!" She commanded.

"Yeah yeah. SHOW 'EM HONEY!" The Commando hollered, throwing out his turret which began to rain Hell on the defenseless gang. Bodies fell left and right, dyeing the snow a bright red, steam floating off the fresh corpses. The turret disengaged and deconstructed soon after. A few straggling survivors limped from the pile.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I SCREAM INTO YOUR SOUL!" Krieg declared, finishing off the last few Bandits.

" _Ah. Not exactly the best finale. But, eh. Got enough bloodshed to fulfill_ _today?_ "

"MY MIND IS ON FIIIIRE" The Psycho ran off, farther up the hill.

"KRIE-"

"Soldiers." Roland's stern voice called over everyone's ECHOs, "All unoccupied vault hunters need to return to Sanctuary _immediately._ The shield is down and even though we're up in the air, radars are picking up a group of Buzzards incoming to our location."

The three vault hunters exchanged glances.

"Maya, you go after Krieg, you can subdue him." Axton commented quickly, "But if anything goes wrong, contact us. Can't lose our awesome Siren." He elbowed her side lightly with a smile, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah. Okay." The Siren replied, jogging after the Psycho.

* * *

"I can't see her anymore... She was so clear and bright... but the blood is in my eyes, and now I can only watch the ocean of blood... Its waves crash against my forehead again and again, AND I JUST NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SURF!" Krieg exclaimed, swinging his axe around freely, taking out every living thing in his path. Maniac? Disemboweled in a swipe. Midget? Headless with a flick of the wrist. A red carpet of cadavers lined his path, and Krieg was the star.

" _Her...HER! She did this..._ " The inner voice growled.

"You're gonna scream, just like she did; open mouth, open heart, blood and noise forever piercing my skull, poisoning me with its psychopathic purple liquid. We watched it all, and felt the knife split down the middle... CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" The Psycho grabbed a marauder by the skull and held him up, tightening his grip on the man, relishing in his panicked pleas for mercy.

" _She laughed though...She would sing that song...that..._ "

Another voice echoed through his skull, " **Dance to the drum beat of the ballistic, fetishistic, sadistic piss-stick!** " It sounded bitter, angry even.

"Krieg! There you are! Roland needs our help." Maya cried out, trying to keep her tone as calm and collected as possible, hoping to snap him from his rampage.

" _I HEAR HER...WHY IS SHE STILL ALIVE?!_ " The saner side screamed. Images flashed through Krieg's subconscious. Knives, needles, tubes, all racing in his scattered thoughts. Krieg turned to the Siren, his vision red and hazy. Instead of seeing Maya though, he saw another woman, of similar stature. Messy ginger hair was pulled up in a bun, a purple-streaked lab coat hung off her bony frame, obviously malnourished.

" **Never flash as sassy eye at the good doctor** " The strange voice laughed sarcastically.

The Psycho crushed the skull of his victim in his palm and laughed, allowing the crimson liquid to drip from his fingertips. Maya took a step back, she had seen Krieg go on his rampages before, and he often snapped back rather quickly, but something in his stance, in the way he held his Buzz Axe with a choking grip, told her he wasn't going to snap back any time soon.

" _Memories..._ "

"There is no me, there is no you! There is only the never ending spit and bile of combat! The twenty-four hour murder spree of shining metal! I drink the blood and eat the loot and breathe the numbers, because I! AM! A MONSTER! NOW AND FOREVER!" Krieg smiled under his mask, taking long, slow strides up to Maya, his head twitching side to side. The Siren was frozen in fear, her legs wanting to run, but an instinct told her to stand her ground. Tension built up within her, fear swirled with the tension, heightening her sense. Every foot fall made her flinch. Every sharp intake of breath took away her own.

" _Just...a few more...steps Maya_ " She kept telling herself, " _A few more and..._ "

"SORRY!" Maya quickly apologized, hoisting up her companion with her abilities.

Everything around Krieg went black as he froze in mid-air. His erratic breathing and pulse slowed. A chill encased his being.

* * *

Roland could see the small group of Buzzards over the horizon, they would surely attack the floating city, but he was ready, there had been worse things to happen to his home. The Soldier headed over to Scooter who was working on the shield's control panel.

"How's it looking?" He asked, loading his gun.

"Ehhhh. Good and not so good. The core ain't outta power. But there's some glitch in the system." The mechanic groaned, "Looks like ya might need ta fight for a bit. Gaige how'sit lookin' yer way?" He asked over his ECHO.

"Like shit." The Mechromancer sighed over the communicator, "It looks like some asshat hacked the transmitters. So even if you got the core up and running, we'd still be up shit creek. Waiiiit..." A click resounded through the transmitters surrounding the city, "There, now fix that core." She hung up.

"Well, that's that." The sound of buzzing engines filled the air, "Go take them sumbitches dooooooown!" Scooter hollered.

"Positions everybody!" Roland ordered, raising his gun to the sky, his turret already deployed.

The other vault hunters took their respective places around Sanctuary, ready to take down the Buzzards. As the aircrafts drew closer, the air weighed in suspense, it was a waiting game now.

Until.

"I GOT IT!" Scooter hollered, a blinding flash of blue surrounded the city and the Buzzards came crashing into the shield. Each one with the same strange ghost emblem that Bandit had on New Year's. Zer0 sprinted to the closest Buzzard and carved out the design, taking it with him back towards the headquarters. There was no way this was a coincidence.

One of the Bandits did manage to make it inside, but was soon torn apart by a spray of bullets and Talon's beak pecking off his flesh.

"Augh! That suuuucked!" Gaige whined over her ECHO.

"Pipe down pipsqueak." Axton grumbled.

"What was that you turret-humper?!"

"Burn" Mordecai's and Brick's voices commented in unison.

"HEY! Shut up!" Lilith intervened, "Zer0 got something, now let's go check it out."

The airwaves fell dead silent.

"...Thank you Lilith." Roland sighed.

* * *

There was a warmth surrounding Krieg as he came to. Some kind of soothing warmth, he almost wanted to fall back to sleep just to feel the warmth consume him. What had happened before? Blood...Memories...? Right, memories. Both sides had tried to suppress those damned events from ever coming back. When he tried to move he realized he was still Phased in the air. He looked over at Maya, her arm no longer raised, but her tattoos still glowed faintly, she looked fairly winded before glancing up at the Psycho.

"Oh...hey. You uh...calmed down now?" The Siren exhaled.

Krieg grunted with a nod.

"Okay. Sorry about that. When I caught you, you passed out. And I thought you were going to have another night terror, or hurt yourself unconsciously." Maya couldn't help but feel uneasy, this was the second time he had completely lost it. She gently lowered him to the ground.

Once he was free, Krieg quickly grabbed the Siren's arms and scanned over her figure.

" _Augh...my head...why are you? What? Shit. Did we hurt her?_ " The saner Krieg huffed.

The Psycho focused his attention on a nasty looking gash on Maya's left shoulder, the light in his eye dimming in concern. Maya caught this glance and patted his hand.

"Bandit got me. Not you okay?" She reassured.

" _Good...At least we're both on the same boat here._ "

There was a few awkward moments of silence before Krieg looked down on the scrapped-up blanket draped over him. He looked up at Maya, then at the blanket, then back to Maya.

" _Wait...She...She stopped us._ _Why did she? I know we lost it but...damn it._ " Everything inside of Krieg's mind was like a never ending ocean of static, and that voice was in the center of it, swimming around in the nonsense trying to remember the previous events, " _It's no use._ " The saner side sighed, regaining focus to what his other half had been doing.

There was Maya propped up against the Psycho's chest, the tattered blanket hanging off the front of her shoulders as she recovered from using her powers for an extended period of time.

"You were out for an hour. The others are okay. There was some glitch with the shield. If you feel ready, we can head back to Sanctuary to meet back up with the others, apparently something could be starting up again." The Siren informed, exhaling a puff of vapor, "I thought we were done with things." She groaned, tossing her head back against Krieg's chest, making her jump, "Sorry, I forgot you were there."

" _It's fine. We're enjoying this_."

"Meat does not pain so easily." The Psycho grumbled.

"Alright Krieg." Maya smiled and sighed contently. She instinctively pressed herself closer to the wall of meat, and rested her head on her knees. The cold silence was oddly comforting, it was just her and him right now, not worrying about anything, not spraying blood everywhere-much to the Psycho's dismay, it was just an icy peace.

Krieg felt a twinge in his chest that traveled to his hands, making them slowly rise from the snow.

" _Woah there. We don't wanna scare her off._ " The inner voice warned, urging his motor half to drop his hands.

Maya stood up and hung the blanket over the Psycho's broad shoulders, "Time to go." was all she said before jogging down the hill to the nearest Fast Travel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boop a doop! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried a little something new. Also! I'm going to try and make each chapter around...2000+ words cause these updates are going to take longer. But enjoy!  
> So I uh...tried to add more KreigMaya fluff because there might not be a lot in the next one or two chapters (but then again, I dont know until I get there). ALSO! We see some of Krieg's past! I like, scoured his wiki page for any more information, but all he has are his quotes to go by, sooo I took some little liberties. We'll get to learn some more about Krieg as the story progresses, like, itty bitty hints until [audio cuts out] and yeah! It'll be awesome. I have a lot of the little things worked out including [audio cut] SO yeah! See you all next time. I love ya all.


	3. Itsy Bitsy Siren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up. This chapter is longer than most.  
> So be prepaaaared~  
> Also! To get the full Borderlands effect...  
> If you have a Pandora station  
> search the "Hidden Orchestra" Station.  
> Great ambiance music

## The Itsy Bitsy Siren

“These symbols were odd/So I made is my mission/To find more of them” Zer0 informed the other raiders, spreading out his collection of ghost-like emblems. Most were patches from jackets, a few were small signs that hung above the bandit camps, and one was a tattoo from a Psycho’s back.

“Well…What do you think guys?” Roland sighed, looking at the rest of the team as he held up a patch, “Are these Bandits getting smart and coming together? Or is this a whole new problem?”

“I dunno.” Mordecai input, “Whenever I’m out with Talon we don’t see anything different.”[](http://white-wolf-terra.deviantart.com/art/Ghosts-and-Raiders-Chapter-3-440400720#)

There was  a collective silence. Bandits made up the majority of the population on Pandora, and even though they weren't all that smart, just fighting a mob of them was enough to wear out even the most skilled of fighters.

"One thing is for sure." Axton commented, "If they are getting smart. We need to scope this out _fast_."

The others nodded in agreement, silent questions floating in the air such as who were these 'ghosts'  and if they really were uniting all the bandit clans.

"Everyone, dismissed, go about your daily errands, but keep your eyes open for more on these ghost-wearing Bandits." The Soldier ordered, the other vault hunters left the room.

"Lilith..." Roland's baritone voice called, stopping the Siren in her tracks.

"Hm?" She hummed, turning back to him.

"What do you think of all of this?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Remember when you had that clan worshipping you?" Ah yes, Lilith's days as "the Firehawk", how could she forget? What with all the little Bandits setting themselves on fire, starting up raging bonfires, and even trying to sacrifice someone all to get closer to their goddess. There would always be a small place in the Siren's heart for the clan, no matter how much she denied it.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why do you think they did? I just wanna see if what I'm thinking is right."

"Well. Probably because I was really strong. Y'know and had powers beyond the normal. After all, no one really sees Sirens every day."

She was right, and Roland knew it too. With the Bandits being easy to impress through feats of strength, it was obvious they would worship someone so God-like. Anyone who presented a clan with the capability to overpower another rival was instantly followed like some newfound religion.

Several chirps came from the Holo-table in the center off the room, alerting the leader of the Raiders to danger around Pandora. Three flashing red dots appeared. One in the Dust, one in the Tundra Express, and one at Overlook. Roland tapped the first one in the Dust.

"Roland? Oh Go--BACK OFF YOU DAMNED--GO AWAY!" Ellie shrieked over the airways followed by the sounds of screaming, gunshots, and Bandit Technicals zooming by.

"Ellie! What's going on?" Roland asked, his authoritative voice filling with concern.

"Bandits Roland! Lots of 'em! I can't take 'em all down! WHY YOU...Send help!"

The line went dead, Roland sent out a distress signal through every Raiders' ECHO. He then tapped the signal coming from the Tundra Express.

"Tina? Tina come in!" He ordered.

"Oh haaaaaaai Roland~" Tina cooed, explosions fired in the background, "I gots ta make this quick. Bandits. Lots of them.  A proper Bandit party almost. I mean. I got my ladies here helpin' me. But I dunno how long they can hold. AWWW SHIT. GOTTA GO~"

Another distress signal went out. Roland hesitantly tapped the last signal.

Then a choir of cries filled the room, Overlook was under attack as well. Roland's eyes filled with fear, these Bandits weren't just smart, there were hoards of them. At this rate any ally outside of Sanctuary would be obliterated. He bashed his hands against the table and growled. The Soldier set up an All-ECHO transmission.

"All and every able body. This is Roland asking for help. Our allies are severely outnumbered. I need teams out to the Dust, Tundra Express, and Overlook. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY." He stressed the last phrase.

"Rol--"

"We need to move too..." He cut Lilith off.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The small town of Overlook was surrounded by Buzzards and Bandits, even though there was a shield up, that did next to nothing for the raids of Psychos pouring into the town. The civilians were in a panic as the savages tore apart the little village.

Just down the beaten path Axton, Roland, Salvador and Lilith re-constructed from the Fast Travel and witnessed just what was going on. The Firehawk took a nugget of Eridium from her pocket and crushed it in her hand. A pair of blazing orange wings grew from her back as her tattoos glowed the same brilliant shade. The other Raiders gathered around her as her fiery wings surrounded them and in a flash of purple and blue, they were teleported into the center of the chaos, releasing an arc of energy from the transport, knocking back a larger group of Bandits. Immediately after the energy dissipated, the two commander classes tossed their turrets into the field, unleashing a never ending rain of bullets and rocket. Salvador drew two rocket launchers and blasted away the lingering Buzzards.

Burning shrapnel fell from the sky like shooting stars as the vault hunters fought. Lilith began Phase Walking towards the town, burning away the Bandits from the energy released from her blasts. The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air as the others followed her path.

"Stay safe out there." Axton murmured to his turret and patted it on top of its launcher and trailed behind the others, providing more fire power from behind as they entered Overlook.

The citizens of the cliff-side village were shakily hobbling around the grounds, doing all they could to defend their homes and protect their weaker members.   

"Everyone back inside!" Roland ordered, the citizens quickly complied.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We're just a mile away from Tina's let's move!" Brick ordered, dashing off to the hideout of his favorite kid. Maya and Krieg chased after him.

" _Careful out there okay? We will not lose it again!_ " The stern inner Krieg commanded, his outer counterpart bellowed something about being a "prime cut" or something along those lines.

"Krieg! Eyes on me." Maya ordered, pointing to herself. The Psycho nodded in understanding as the Siren sprinted in front of him, tossing her arm up to Phase Lock a Bandit and draw its companions to it.

" _She thinks...We'll lose it again. Follow her advice._ "

"GRIND GRIND GRIND! KILL KILL KILL!" He bellowed, slicing the Bandits in half, blood painting his skin crimson, "WHAT A GLORIOUS SHOWER!"

Brick ran into the workshop to find Tina tied up in a chair with a bag over her head. Several Bandits danced around her, whooping and cheering about how they were going to sacrifice her to the "Phantom". The Berserker trembled in rage and charged the psychos. One by one he pummeled each Bandit into the ice, making sure nothing was left of their crazed bodies.

"Briiiick~ is that yoooou~?" The thirteen-year-old seemed to purr and swing her legs back and forth childishly.

"You alright Tina?" He asked, removing her bindings and the bag. The girl jumped up and down, nodding furiously before skipping off to her stash of explosives.  


"So who else showed for the par-taaaay?" Tina asked, stuffing her bag with dynamite.

"Maya and Krieg, they're taking down Bandits."

"Sweeet. Leggo~" Tina fled outside to join in the carnage where she was greeted by a Marauder's head whoosh past her own.

Maya noticed that the constant rain of blood had stopped and turned her head to where she saw Krieg in a screaming match with another Psycho.

"MINE IS SHINER!" He roared, crushing his opponent's skull in his hand, "NO ONE 'S MEAT BICYCLE IS SHINER!"

The Siren just chuckled to herself and resumed unloading her favorite E-tech Maliwan on the other Bandits.

" _Of course._ " She thought, " _Always meat bicycles_."

A large explosion halted the battle and in ran Tina and Brick, the first with "war paint" on her face and a stick of dynamite in each hand. The teenager tossed the explosives left and right, quickly dwindling the hoard's numbers as Brick protected her at close range, beating away any Bandit that dare come too close. Maya used her Phase Locks to ignite small bands of enemies sending them into a frenzy of excitement as they caught their companions on fire. Krieg seemed to almost skip around the chaos, happily hacking down any surviving Bandits.

"Dayuuum! This is soooome party~" Tina giggled.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bullets flew expertly through the dry desert air of the Dust as Zer0 and Mordecai sat still on top of Ellie's garage while Gaige sent out Death Trap to handle any Bandit Technicals that drove in range of the body shop.  Other volunteers from Sanctuary rode around the area in their own Light Runners, chasing down the large vehicles and keeping them herded in the two sniper's ranges.  Talon soared overhead, occasionally diving down to kill any straggling bandits.

"Atta giiirl!" Mordecai laughed as he watched his beloved pet swoop down and claw out the back of a midget Psycho before taking to the skies again.

"This is a nice pace/Rather simple for our tastes/Good for the New Year" Zer0 mentioned, head-shooting two Marauder's at once, then glanced at the Mechromancer below.

Gaige was sashaying around the sand, firing her pistol and dodging hits while Death Trap slashed through Bandit flesh like paper.  Her pigtails bobbed freely as she smacked a Psycho upside the jaw with the butt of her gun, knocking him back then firing a shot through the crazed man's throat. With a wave of the arm she called her robot to her side and hopped to its shoulder, riding it up to the roof of the building.

"Well. That's all down there. How'sit up here?" She asked, flicking her wrist to dismiss her guardian.

The sound of engines revving quieted as the Bandit Technicals stopped with their passengers now dead. The landscape looked like some kind of wasteland now, littered with vehicles. The Hunter whistled and called his partner to his shoulder.

"I'd say we're done." Mordecai smirked, announcing it over the ECHO waves. Cheers arose from the dunes as the volunteers rode back into the garage and traveled back to sanctuary.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Take that!" Lilith cried, spin kicking a Psycho in the stomach, sending him crashing into a trash can. The Siren brushed her hands together and chuckled, not noticing the surveyor flying overhead.

"Nice one." Roland complimented, patting his companion on the shoulder, then headed over to the trash to deal the final shot. The Psycho looked up at the Soldier and cackled.

"BOO! BOO!" He shouted before Roland pulled the trigger, ending his life. A shuffling sound came from behind the trash can, Roland cocked his gun ready to fire again.

"S-SANCTUARY! SAFETY!" The voice of a young girl wailed before she tumbled from her hiding place, tears in her eyes.

The vault hunters gathered around the child. She looked to be no more than ten. Her onyx colored hair was tied back in two disheveled braids, an oversized leather vest draped from her shoulders over a forest green sweater that came to her knees. The girl was covered in dirt and a few scratches. What was really surprising was that on her left arm were the faded marks of a Siren's tattoos. She looked up at the four mercenaries, her eyes a dark grey in shade flickered with fear. The others were silent, she obviously wasn't a citizen of the town, otherwise they would have known.  The young Siren's eyes darted to each of the vault hunters before pushing herself up with trembling arms. The others stepped back, not sure what to make of this development.

"T-Th-Thank...You..." She stuttered through her quivering lips. The vault hunters glanced at one another before setting their gaze on Lilith, a gaze that said "You talk. You're the woman. You're a Siren." before the men stepped back further. The Firehawk just gave a deadpan stare in their direction before approaching the girl.

"It was no trouble." The older Siren replied, kneeling down to see eye to eye with the girl, "I'm Lilith, and behind me is Roland, Axton, and Salvador. What's your name? How old are you?"

"I uh..." The girl looked like she was at war with herself, debating whether or not to talk to the stranger. Lilith sensed this and smiled calmly.

"Hey. We won't hurt you. We're good guys." She then held out her left arm, "And look, we're not too different."

The dark-haired girl stared in awe at the vivid tattoos then at her own.

"I'm Sienna. I'm 10...are you a Siren like me?" She patted Lilith's arm in curiosity. The Firehawk ruffled Sienna's hair and stood up.

"Sure am. Here, watch this." Lilith then jogged out of everyone's range and began to flicker purple before vanishing. The young Siren gasped and stumbled forward. Lilith then appeared, now at the entrance to the town.

"WOW!" Sienna cried and tugged at Axton's arm, "Did you just see that!?"

Axton jolted at the touch, not used to having such a small child around him.

"Come on Sienna, let's go to Lilith." Roland laughed, leading the group to the edge of town.

"So Sienna. Can you do anything special?" Lilith asked.

"Oh uhm...Yeah. But it makes me really tired. Last time I did it...I passed out...and...W-wanna see?" The little Siren asked, a small fire burned within her, telling her to try and impress the others, "I think I should be fine..."

"Only if you think so." The Soldier answered. Sienna nodded and walked forward a few paces, staring hard into the distance as if to look for something.

An Alpha skag was trotting past the town, minding its own business.

"Watch..." The young Siren muttered, pressing her left hand to her forehead. Her faint tattoos seemed to flicker weakly as she chanted the words "Phase Control...Phase Control...Phase Control" over and over then mumbled the word "halt" and to her command, the skag stopped in its tracks.

"sit" she ordered in nothing but a whisper and yet again the beast obeyed her command.

"howl" the skag let out a pained howl to the skies.

"now go sleep." the skag flopped over into the grass. Sienna removed her hand, gasped then coughed, a few drops of blood sputtered from her lips before she collapsed. Roland scooped the girl from the ground and dashed to the Fast Travel, transporting to Sanctuary.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The vault hunters were back in the headquarters, surrounding the Holo-table. Roland informed everyone about what had happened in Overlook and the new situation involving Sienna.

"Reports everyone?" Their leader asked, rubbing a hand over his head and sighing.

"They weren't really organized, just kind of...attacking." Maya commented, "Like they had no goal but to just cause chaos."

"T'WAS A BLOODY FESTIVAL OF JOY~" Krieg hollered. The Siren patted his arm, telling him that now was not the time. The Psycho instantly hushed and grumbled softly.

"Yeah. They did capture Tina, but weren't too interested in killin' her right away."Brick added.

"Same for us in the Dust." Mordecai commented, "The bastards just drove around firing at nothing in particular. A few came close to the garage, but--"

"I totally handled them. Man you should'a seen DT. Like. So BADASS!" Gaige interrupted.

Silence fell over the group.  These Bandits were obviously meant to draw out the Raiders' attention, and they succeeded. Those attacks were just decoys, or perhaps warnings for things to come. A soft hum rose from the Holo-table and Dr. Zed spoke.

"Howdy there everyone. You're little friend is awake now if you wanna see her." The medic informed.

"Thanks. We'll be there soon." Roland answered, shutting off the channel, "Right. Sienna. She seems innocent enough, but we can't be too careful. We'll keep her detained in an energy shield in case she uses her powers on us."

There was a hesitant agreement from the others, even though she was only 10, none of them knew if what she was saying was the truth or even if they could trust her.

"Gaige can you set up an energy barrier in the back room where Tannis is? I doubt she'll mind." The Soldier requested. Gaige saluted and laughed.

"I'll get right to it!" She cheered, eager to construct something new, and ran down to the main floor.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sienna sat in a strange room, old blood was splattered across the floor, the lights flickered on and off. A man with a bloody apron approached her, "Good to see you're okay." he smiled under his surgeon mask. Sienna shivered in fear, unable to move or speak. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Was she now a prisoner? Were these people going to try and kill her? Were they lying about being good guys?

Footsteps signaled the entry of a small group. Sienna looked up to see the same people who had saved her earlier plus a few others.

"Are you alright?" Lilith asked, the young Siren just nodded and scooted off the stretcher, "You're going to stay with us for a little okay?" Sienna nodded again and scurried to the Firehawk's side. The other vault hunters observed the child, each on making their own mental notes and opinions about her. Lilith held out her hand to lead Sienna back to the headquarters.

"I know it's not super comfy. But yeah." Lilith mentioned, urging the young Siren into the back room. Roland nodded at Gaige who flipped a small switch, activating a faint blue energy shield that trapped Sienna in the small room. The young girl whimpered in terror and pressed her hands against the shield.

"Wh-why?" She whined, tears pricking her eyes. Roland signaled the others to disperse save for Maya and Lilith.

"Help calm her down, contact me when she's ready to talk okay?" Roland whispered calmly. The two Sirens nodded and the Soldier dismissed himself.

"Sorry about this..." Lilith apologized, kneeling down, "We've just had a long day. And we need to be cautious." Sienna nodded and wiped away her tears as if to understand.

"Uh...Hi..." Maya mumbled, taking a seat next to her friend, "I'm Maya."

"Hi Maya..." The 10 year old seemed to whisper, leaning against the shield and smiled, "You're both really pretty. Are all Sirens this pretty?" Her childish curiosity began to get the better of her. The two older Sirens chuckled and smiled at the child. After a few minutes of answering Sienna's harmless questions Lilith contacted Roland, telling him he could return.

"My friend Roland is going to ask you some questions okay?" The Firehawk asked. The little Siren smiled and nodded.

"S-sure!"

Moments later the towering Soldier entered the room, doing his best to not scare the already shaken up girl. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of the barrier, pondering what to ask her first.

"How did this all happen?" He decided it was an easy enough question, even though he was more curious as to what her relation to the Bandits was.

"Uh...Well this is all I got..." She started, "I got stranded on this place after uh..." She grabbed her head and cringed, "I know I crashed...I..."

"Don't worry about that. Tell me about the Bandits." Roland didn't want the girl to try and recall memories that could send her over the edge.

"They...They uh...They call themselves 'Phantoms' and they're after these...'Vault Hunter' people. Apparently they hate the Vault Hunters." Sienna kneaded her fingers together in the fabric of her sweater, "And there's the Queen."

Roland hardened his gaze, tilting his head.

"She's...scary. I saw her once. When they captured me. She's terrifying. She has them wrapped around her finger, bowing to her whims. She's a giant. And she has this...claw." The little Siren shuddered and shook her head, "I think she even ate a person once."

"ONLY I EAT THE FLESH!" Krieg exclaimed barging in, hearing Sienna's story from around the corner. Sienna leaped back and shrieked.

"Sorry...He does that. C'mon big guy." Maya apologized, leading the Psycho out of the building.

The 10 year-old did her best to regain herself, "We-well okay...where was...I?"

"The Queen that ate a person." Roland Reminded.

"Right...Uh...Well...yeah. She has them completely under her control. She says jump, they're already in the air."

There was an awkward moment of silence, the Soldier hung his head and sighed, he needed more information.

"Okay...let's...try this one...How did you get in Overlook?"

Sienna twisted a braid between her fingers and bit her lip in thought.

"They were trying to get me to a guy in Liar's Burg...I think...Yeah...They said something about Liar's Burg...A ship...Maybe? Uhh..." She clutched her head, "Sorry...fuzzy thoughts...I uh...can I sleep?"

"Yes...Thank you Sienna." Roland bade farewell, knowing their next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said it was a long chapter. Its kind of nice now, I set up a pace to write out each chapter and review over it.
> 
> We meet Sienna, the 10 year old siren! She won't really be in the fighting, since...shes a little kid. But [static noises].
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed. Also...I hear that SOPA started back up again. So...If...it takes effect. Well...all these stories might disappear. I hope not thought!
> 
> Dont forget to rate and review.  
> See ya next time!  
> -Ryzi


	4. Quality Time

The Raiders began preparing for their next mission. Triple checking their equipment, stocking up on health-hypos, food, and ammunition, purchasing and selling guns, shields, relics and grenade mods. Sienna never said where she was taken from, only that she was supposed to be going to Liar's Burg, and that's where the Raiders were going to go if they were to try and unravel the truth behind these "Phantoms".

Maya flipped through the old book she had at her side at all times, its pages filled with techniques for Sirens, taking in all the knowledge she could cram into her mind before setting on the upcoming expedition. She trailed her fingers over every word, so absorbed in the information that she almost didn't hear Krieg walk up behind her.

" _Alright. Just…give it to her. Try not to say anything about eating flesh, meat bicycles, and anything else inappropriate. Okay?_ "

"Heya Krieg." The Siren turned her head and grinned, shutting her book. The Psycho just stood there, his head slightly twitching in thought as if he was trying to plan out his next few steps. He really was trying to control himself-Maya could sense it too-and he knew that with the current situation every little thing was vital. The people who let him stay in Sanctuary after nearly going completely insane twice needed him to be as cooperative and focused as possible.

"Thing…" He grunted harshly, cutting off what he was going to sat next, practicing control. Krieg held out a leather bound book, his hands shaking violently as he attempted to maintain control. Maya looked at the tome; her eyes widened at the insignia on the cover. It was a Legendary Binder tome, there were only a handful that remained in the universe ever since Maliwan ceased distribution on the account that "these 'mods' are way too strong for any adventurer".

The Siren snatched the old book and furiously skimmed through the pages. "Thank you so so so soooo much!" Maya smiled, "How did you find this?"

Krieg twitched, " _No...NO. We can do thi-_ " "SQUEALING PIGS FALL BEFORE THE GREAT KING OF THE ORIGINAL 150. ALL FELL TO THE SLAUGHTER OF JOYS. THEY RODE AROUND ON THE GRANDEST BACON-GLIDERS. BUT I RULED ALL!" The conscious side cheered triumphantly in his twisted tale, striking a "heroic" pose. The Siren just raised her brow and pursed her lips.

" _WOOOOOW. Way to go. We almost had it._ " The inner Krieg sighed sarcastically.

"Well...Thank you again." Maya cleared her throat and patted her companion on the shoulder, "Are you all set?" Krieg nodded, "Alright, then let's go tell Roland."

* * *

Everyone gathered at Pierce Station, determination in their eyes. No one was going to ruin their "Best Year on Pandora", not even some two-bit Bandit clan with their act together. Roland turned to the Fast Travel and typed in the code for Liar's Burg, but nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing.

"A'ight. Lemme see what's up with this junk." Gaige huffed and cracked her knuckled before opening up the main interface. All the other locations were intact; just Liar's Burg was off the map, "Ahh probably some Bandit tried to steal some parts for a gun. I'll fix it when we get there. We'll just go to Southern Shelf Bay." Without another thought the Mecromancer punched in the coordinates, engulfing the group in the familiar blue light of the Fast Travel. As the vault hunters were transported, the tunnel-like system seemed to static up followed by a soft chuckle. In a flash the tube divided in multiple directions, leaving the helpless mercenaries to the mercy of the Fast Travel. 

* * *

"Cut and chop…split the meat." Krieg groaned as he materialized in the familiar town of Fyrestone. A few blue pixels floated next to him before creating the form of his favorite Raider.

"…What…the…hell…" Maya exhaled, leaning over trying to catch her breath.

" _…Well. This could have been worse._ " The inner voice chuckled.

"Where is everyone else?" The Siren asked, looking around the scrapyard of a town. At that moment both their ECHOs' jumped to life.

"DAMN IT GAIGE! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" Axton screamed over the airways.

"Nothing! Sheesh! Not my fault these Fast Travels are shit!" Gaige retorted.

"I thought we were going to Southern Shelf! Not Eridium Blight." The Commando groaned.

"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" Salvador hollered, gunshot firing in the distance.

"Aw yeah brother." Mordecai laughed, his own shots firing.

"Everyone." Roland declared, hushing the others over the airwaves, "Find a way to Three Horns. The Happy Pig Motel. Leave reports. AW SHIT!" All ECHOs fell silent.

"…Bad…Ass…" Lilith muttered.

Maya shut off her ECHO, "Well…Looks like we need to find a way to Three horns." Krieg pointed to the Fast Travel.

"Yeah. I wish. But who knows what would happen this time…" The Siren shook her head and checked the ammo in her gun then looked up at the sky, it would only be hours until sun would set and being out in the Badlands at night was more dangerous than being out in the day. After assessing the supplies both she and Krieg had, Maya spoke again.

"We should take it easy getting back to Three Horns, with what we're going after in Liar's Burg...We need to save what we have. Alright?"

"Salt the meat!" Krieg "agreed".

"So...I suggest we set up a camp here since those JNK-Loaders seem to have gone. Get more supplies, yadda yadda. You...Okay there Krieg?" Maya glanced up at the Psycho who was furiously scrounging around the demolished ruins. He was digging through a scrap pile of destroyed Loaders, obviously determined to find something.

" _What the hell are you even lookin...Oh._ " Krieg pulled a brightly lit power core from the mound and raised it triumphantly before practically skipping off to a small-partly intact-hut that was scrawled on in what looked like a Bandit's handwriting. Those guys were terrible spellers. Maya followed the hulking man, curious as to what he was trying to accomplish. The Psycho crudely hung the power core to the shanty attached to the hut like some sort of porch light. The Siren exhaled sharply as she approached her friend from behind taking in the sloppily written "Kriegs" above the entryway.

"Is this where you stayed before? When...they exiled you?" Krieg nodded roughly and pulled another core from his satchel, nearly forgetting he had it there since his last visit to Fyrestone, and held it out to Maya as if to say "take it". Maya complied and carefully took the glowing core, instantly feeling its warmth against her palms.

" _Show her how we're so much more._ " Krieg's subconscious ordered, his motor half nodding once more before tugging the Siren on the wrist.

"What? Need to show me something? Lead the way." Maya only grew more curious, following the Psycho as he led her outside the walls of the town, instantly taking note of the faint glow around the base of the outer walls that began to radiate brighter as the sun set. Every time Maya was required to pass the town on their quest to stop Handsome Jack she never noticed any glowing around Fyrestone, and she was rather good with remembering details of where she visited.

"Did you do this?" Krieg only grunted in response, "Why?" Maya finished. The Psycho pointed sharply to the sky in the direction of sanctuary.

"NORTH STAR. THE NEVER ENDING LIGHT. BRING BACK." She wasn't sure if she had spent too much time around the Psycho or if he was becoming slightly more coherent, but Maya actually somewhat understood what he meant.

"I...see..." The Siren mumbled. An awkward silence rose between the two, only to be broken by a slight chuckle, "Let's set up in your uh...hut and rest up for the long trek tomorrow." The two headed back into the town and to Krieg's little slice of Fyrestone.

* * *

Krieg spent the next few minutes trying to rearrange the shelter so that both he and Maya could share the space and not be sleeping on top of one another.

" _Although I don't think we would really mind."_ The inner voice confessed, " _But. Can't let this be too awkward. Don't wanna hurt her with an accidental night terror_." The Psycho awkwardly offered her the cot by picking her up by the arms and placing her on the lumpy mattress. Maya smirked amused as the other slightly psychotic vault hunter spread out a tarp on the dusty floor and sprawled out on his back staring at the uninteresting ceiling. The Siren took this as a signal that they were done for the day and that they needed to sleep. She flopped over onto her back and closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep. But she just couldn't too many questions plagued her thoughts. Questions that she had developed over the time she had spent with Krieg. Like where he came from, how did he end up this way...

" _Why is he coherent some days, but others he's near impossible to understand? Does he really understand us? Why am I so curious...Maybe..._ " Maya rolled over to see Krieg mindlessly spinning the blade on his Buzz Axe.

"Hey Krieg." She asked a little above a whisper.

" _...I know you're dying to kill things, but this feels nice too. Did we always have a thirst for blood? Or were we civil? I bet they don't even think we understand...or maybe they do...I dunno. We have to focus tomorrow okay? We ha-_ "

"Krieg? Hello?" Maya asked slightly louder, the Psycho turned his head to the Siren and raised a brow.

"Ah. Okay. Uh. So this might be a little rude. But do you understand me?" A knot formed in her throat, if he really did understand that may have been insulting... Krieg nodded slowly and returned to laying on his back.

"I thought so. Uh. Night Krieg." Maya rolled to face the wall and curled up, her eyes fluttering shut as she fell into a deep slumber.

" _Good job_."

* * *

Maya awoke with a start, from what she could tell it was still night time. She looked at the time on her ECHO. She had only been asleep for an hour or so before being awakened by the sounds of distressed gasping. The Siren looked down to where Krieg was only to see him lying flat on the floor as if he was being restrained. His head thrashed about as he grunted frantically. Maya crawled from the cot and kneeled next to the Psycho.

Krieg could only feel pain. Both parts of him knew he was dreaming, but couldn't wake up. Within his dreaming subconscious he registered he was suspended in the air on a table of some sort. His wrists and ankles restrained. A figure approached him, the same one he saw before he lost consciousness days ago. The same bony frame, the same messy ginger hair, the same purple streaked coat. She had a knife in her hand. Her face was obscured but he could tell she was in pain. As if against the woman's will, she plunged the knife deep in his chest and dragged it down.

From the outside Krieg screamed and arched his back. Maya panicked and quickly took one of Krieg's hands in her own. Within his dream a bright light radiated from his palm, the one Maya held. A soft voice echoed in his mind.

"Shh...It's okay...It's okay. Calm down." The Siren whispered, Krieg fell limp as his dream tore away into a strangely soothing darkness consisting of only him and the growing light in his hand. Instinctively he pulled the light closer to his chest like that night when he was first exiled here, not realizing what he was actually doing.

Maya didn't resist when she felt herself be pulled into Krieg's grasp, now being awkwardly held like a security object by the wall of muscle. Her heart raced, sure in the little free-time she had she read a few light novels and listened to many of Moxxi's stories about her nightly escapades, but she didn't quite understand what was so comforting about being held against another being until now. It was nice she decided, she didn't feel alone or in danger. Maya shuffled around to get more comfortable and pressed herself closer to the sleeping Psycho, feeling every ridge, rise, and scar on his skin, and fell asleep in moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boopy doop! Chapter 4 ladies and gents. I uh...Fluff. Because...yes. This is a KriegMaya story and I was in a fluff mood. Our heroes are all spread across Pandora! (dun dun duuuun) I'm gonna say this now. I am horrible at writing romance. (or at least i feel like it) Sooo uh...bear with this chapter. Trying to keep it at a pace so we aren't getting right into everything all at once.
> 
> I honestly love reading your reviews and reactions to the story. Like it fills me with warm fuzzies! And also makes me feel like a big bad guy cause I just wanna be like [static noises that last for like 10 minutes]. But I cant!
> 
> You all rock. Like. Yes. Have an awesome day.
> 
> -Ryzi
> 
> Borderlands (c) Gearbox


	5. Dunes and a Near Death Experience

“ _I’m here…no…We’re here. We aren’t killing. We’re at peace. We’re warm…Keep it this way would’ja? Before we go out and at it again? Psh, who needs to wake up? Can’t we just stay here?_ ” The inner Krieg mumbled sleepily as his conscious self began to wake up. The Psycho lifted his heavy eyelids only to see a tuft of blue hair poking into the hole in his mask. He softly grunted, puzzled at the sight, and then carefully brushed away the hair, revealing Maya’s face still peacefully sleeping. Krieg couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“ _…Damn…She looks even better up close. I bet we could jus—wait a minute…how did she get here? Oh hell please don’t tell me we ended up knocking her unconscious? Shit, maybe we attacked her in her sleep? No…calm down…she’s breathing…_ ” Krieg scanned over her figure, taking in every curve, “ _And she’s undamaged…did she come here on her own?_ ”

Maya stirred, groaning softly. She shook the hair from her face and huffed then looked up at Krieg—who looked rather distressed.

“Hah. Hey there.” She yawned, “Mind letting me down?” Krieg obeyed, releasing  the Siren from his hold. Maya stood, re-adjusted her combat suit, and stretched.

“Sleep well?” She leaned back, earning several quiet pops from her spine, “I know I did.”

“ _…We…What is going on? We would ask but…_ ”

“TWIIIIST AND PULL! TEAR APART~” Krieg growled.

“ _That. I swear if we ever get back to being able to talk like a normal being, we’re going to say ‘sorry’ for every profane thing that comes out of your mouth._ ” The inner voice face-palmed.

“That’s…nice.” The Siren spun around and twisted her back side to side, “If you’re wondering, you were having a nasty night terror, so I calmed you down. Hope that’s okay?”

“ _That’s more than[](http://white-wolf-terra.deviantart.com/art/Ghosts-and-Raiders-Chapter-5-442090799#) okay._ "

Maya scooped up her belongings and slung her satchel over her shoulder and reloaded her favorite E-Tech gun, "Let's get going" she then pulled out her ECHO.

"Roland, when you get this. Krieg and I are headed out to the Dust. Hopefully we'll be at the Motel by tomorrow." She reattached the ECHO to her side and headed outside, Krieg stumbling after the Siren with his belongings dragging behind him. Maya glanced over at the Fast Travel and sighed, this would be so much easier if the damned thing worked right. Small pixels floated around the ports on the machine, catching both her and the Psycho's attention. Maya cautiously approached the device, her gun at the ready to shoot down what might come out from the Intranet. Not even a moment later the small digital specs fizzled away. The Siren just groaned and continued her path out of Fyrestone

(Line)

Hours had passed since the two left the ruins of their shelter, hardly running into any trouble as they traversed the sands. Krieg waltzed in front, tossing his Buzz Axe up in the air and  catching it once it fell back to the ground.

"I thirst for the blood~" He growled, "I _need_ the blood!"

"Calm it down there, I'm sure there'll be something out here for you to slaughter..." Maya sighed, glancing around at her surroundings, everything was dead silent. The structures of the Hyperion Data Tunnels came into view over the horizon, "There's the Data Tunnels, maybe there's some Loaders for you there."

Krieg enjoyed the sound of that, sprinting towards the structures with Maya jogging behind him at a distance.

What the two found was not Loaders but...

"AXTON? BRICK?! WHAT...OH SHIT..." Maya gasped, seeing the Commando and the Berserker passed out in the sand, blood soaked through their clothes and into the sand. The Siren thrust out her hand and surrounded her friends in a soft indigo light, closing up their wounds, hoping she wasn't too late.

"Krieg. The Hypos." She ordered and luckily the Psycho complied pulling out several of the auto-injecting serums and pressed the needles inside his companions' arms. The colour returned to the fallen comrades skins. There were a few minutes of silence before Brick groaned in obvious pain.

"Damn...they..." The Berserker rolled over and coughed up blood, groaned even louder, "We...ugh..." he fell face first into the sand.

Maya looked up at Krieg with terror in her eyes, "Get a Technical. Big car. Okay? You can do that okay?" Her voice grew desperate as she waved her hand, releasing another pulse of soft indigo energy to try and rejuvenate her friends. The Psycho stood in place for a second or two.

" _What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation? GO!_ " His inner voice commanded, sending Krieg off to the Catch-a-Ride a mile away.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The Siren flicked on her ECHO, "Roland...Maya here. Axton and Brick are severely injured, I think I can save them, Krieg's getting a vehicle, but we might not be at the Motel tomorrow like I said...Maya out." She shut off the communicator and refocused on the task at hand. Her skills were starting to fail, no matter how many times she used her "phase res" on the two, she was unable to wake them up. Maya could only tell that they were hanging onto their lives by a thread. She felt useless, the only time her resurrection ability seemed to work was when her ally had recently fallen, and who knew how long the two mercenaries were out here? The Siren hung her head, her hand brushed the book at her side.

" _OF COURSE!_ " She thought, taking the book from its holster and flipping through its worn pages, and eventually found what she needed. Following the steps listed, Maya flicker her wrist, pointed two fingers up towards the sky, then jabbed Axton on the chest, a translucent pulse of indigo bounced around his figure before his eyes shot open.

"AUGH!" The Commando screamed, hopping to his feet, Maya smiled and hunched over, feeling her energy drain quickly.

"Still...gotta save Brick..." She huffed, attempting to perform the same maneuver on the other fallen comrade. Axton grabbed her wrist and shook his head.

"Watch." He stated before kicking the large man onto his back, Brick's expression was peaceful, a smile slightly cracked on his face, "It takes a lot more than some Skag-taming Bandits to get him down."

Maya's gaze shot up to Axton's, "What?"

"Yeah. Assholes with Skags. I dunno how, but they have them bending to their wills', like Mordecai and Talon."

"Phantoms?"

"Yep. The only reason we're still alive is on pure dumb luck. We were about to kick the bucket but then they all just left. Strange isn't it?"

Maya just nodded and rose to her feet, squinting into the distance as she looked for Krieg.

A Bandit Technical seemed to fly across the sand, the Psycho hollering from his driver's seat before skidding across a small dune to a stop. Fresh blood was spattered over the vehicle along with a few organs.

"THE POOP TRAIN HAS PULLED INTO STATION~" Krieg bellowed crawling from his seat.

"...Great. Look big guy, just help us get Brick into the back, I'll dr--" Axton attempted to take a step forward but collapsed to his knees. Maya helped him back up and lead him to the back of the Bandit Technical.

"I think you need to rest more. Krieg, get Brick into the back okay?" The Siren requested in which Krieg happily complied, gingerly placing the Berserker into the bed of the large vehicle before hopping back into the driver's seat.

"Guess...you're driving..." Maya mumbled, "The Happy Pig Motel Krieg! We've only passed it a thousand times before, not too hard to miss." She ended and took a seat in between Axton and Brick, keeping a watchful eye on both.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Krieg's driving was...unique to say the least. He never strayed from the road but never missed an opportunity to run over any Bandits that came after him. It was obvious to tell when another Bandit fell victim to the Technical by the tell-tale shriek, crunch, then spray of blood that showered the others in the back. Brick since then had awoken and was about to force the Psycho from his seat, but when Krieg managed to somehow plow through a wall of robot limbs and Bandit corpses on nothing but a few drops of nitro, the Berserker decided that maybe Krieg should just finish the ride to the Motel.

It was night time now, Axton and Brick had fallen back asleep to try and recover more energy while Maya relaxed in the gunner's seat.

"Hey, take it slower okay? We can't lose these two from running over another Bandit, okay?"

Krieg grunted in understanding and slowed the vehicle slightly. Maya looked down at him from her seat, amazed at how after walking for hours then driving through the rest of the day, Krieg wasn't even winded. Perhaps that's how it was being a Psycho, you sleep for one long period then you can stay awake for the next few days. Or maybe it was just because he had a task at hand. Either way, she was grateful that he was able to handle the transportation while she kept tabs on the injured mercenaries.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mornings on Pandora were always the quietest, it seemed like most creatures slept until noon. The faint lights of a Bandit Technical appeared in the distance. Roland stood under the large pig figure and stared at the headlights, Lilith yawned and strode up behind her partner.

"Think that's the rest of them?" The Firehawk yawned again and wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Krieg bellowed in the distance, accelerating towards the building.

"...yep." Roland snickered, "Alright everyone, up and at 'em." He turned to the other rooms and knocked on every door.

”C'mooon...It's like...eight in the morning." Gaige groaned, stumbling outside, the other Raiders emerged soon after.

The Technical skidded to a stop in front of the Motel, Krieg pumped his fist in the air and hopped from his seat, the others more or less fell out of the vehicle. Axton and Brick were looking infinitely better now that their wounds had been healed.

"Next time...I drive." The Commando huffed, cracking his neck.

"So, what happened out there?" the leader asked, patting the Berserker on the shoulder in greeting.

"Aw man! We was out in the Eridium Blight." Brick began, "Well, we hauled ass out of there, didn't wanna hold you all up. So we get to the Data Pipeline right? These bastard were out there with their Skags killing all the Loaders then attacked us. And, these guys...they're strong." Everyone's eyes widened, if Brick thought that someone was tough, well...that was bad news, "They spared us though..."

"Probably thought we weren't worth their time." Axton sneered.

"Well. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's get to Liar's Burg." Roland ordered, queuing up another Bandit Technical.

Everyone boarded their respective vehicles and began the long drive to where Claptrap's ship was docked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wellll uh chapter 5. Very short. Gotta get from point A to B. Next chapter's gonna be intense! School's calmed down a bit, this will be the only chapter for the weekend and perhaps most of the week. I try to update at least once a week, but personal life is getting a little hectic as of late. I apologize for this chapter.  
> Everything (c) Gearbox  
> Phantoms (c) me


	6. Crash and Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably wont update for a little since the School play is coming up.  
> Super busy-no-sleep mode activate!

After another day’s worth of driving, the vault hunters finally reached Claptrap’s “mighty vessel” and took sail for Liar’s Burg. As the small ship propelled across the icy waters, Axton and Brick gathered the others around to give a complete run down on the Phantoms they ran into.

“Like I said before, these guys are strong.” Brick reiterated.

“Yeah, and organized too, some seemed to know tactics I learned back in the Dahl Corps…” Axton added, “I’m not one to be so open, but, these guys have me a little shaken.”

Gaige snickered and murmured, “Baby” under her breath, earning a glare from the Commando.

Roland sighed and scratched his head, formulating a plan of attack, “ _We can’t just run in there then. That’s suicide. Any reinforcement is too suspicious and we might lose more than we need...”_ He thought.

The others began preparing for the worst as the ship pulled into port. Everyone disembarked; Maya was the last one off, doubt filling her mind. It was as bad as the first time she arrived on Pandora, those first few days were nothing but an endless nightmare as she adjusted to the ins and outs, as she adapted to fighting nothing but psychopaths, robots, beasts, and ancient creatures. Krieg seemed to sense her unease; he slowed his pace to meet her and plopped an oversized hand on her head and roughly rubbed her hair.

“All will fall mercy to the riders of doooooom~” The Psycho growled his message actually slightly coherent. The Siren smirked slightly and sighed.

“Yeah. Just, gotta be smart.” She huffed and checked her ammo for the thousandth time.

The Soldier stopped everyone a few hundred yards from the town and turned around, “Everyone, keep your wits about you. I don’t want you firing until we’re under immediate threat. These guys might try and get us to waste our bullets first. Be prepared for the worst.” And with that, they continued up the path to the frigid village.

The small village was definitely changed. The snow-buried buildings were now dug out and usable, it appeared as if a sizable fence had been established around the area, and everything looked just about cleaned up. The only thing missing were the citizens bustling about in the frigid town. This set the vault hunters on guard, the last time they had been to the Burg everything was falling apart and Bullymongs were constantly raiding the ghost town.

"Guard up everyone, something's very wrong." Roland growled. The other Raiders' cocked their guns, ready to attack. The cold air hung still and silent. An oversized Alpha Skag snarled lowly as it paced down the path from Hammerlock's old shack. The group stared down the beast through their sights. The canine-like monster instantly perked up and let out a strange mix of a woof and snarl as if it was trying to act friendly. The creature wagged its rear end in the air and hopped around in place like an excited puppy whose master had just come home. The Raiders all looked at the Alpha quizzically.

"What...did it snort some Necrophage or something?" Salvador asked, lowering his shotgun. The Skag began to prance around the vault hunters at a distance, tossing around its head with its tongue lolling out. Gaige snickered at the beast's behavior. Moments later another oversized Alpha Skag emerged from the building, dashing to its pack-mate, and tackling it to the ground. The two creatures bit and snapped at one another and rolled around in the snow. Everyone lowered their guns and just watched the Skags battle it out; Salvador even silently urged the two to fight harder.

"CRASH! RIPPER!" A new voice hollered, the two Skags ceased fighting and sprinted to the figure coming down to meet the Raiders, "Ay, sorry about that." The figure was obviously male by his voice and stature. His face was obscured by a pair of ski goggles. A crooked grin stretched across his face as he scratched the back of his dirty-blond hair. The man adjusted his jacket and the suspenders underneath, "These two are polar opposites. Get it? POLAR? Since it’s cold as a witch’s tit out ‘ere… Amiright?" He laughed dryly, a strange accent twanging in his tone. The Raiders just gave awkward looks, a few raised their brows.

"Sheesh...tough crowd. Any ways. Name's Verner. These two are Crash an' Ripper." He motioned to his Skags, one of which leapt up and bit down on his excessively padded wrist. Verner just scratched the beast on its scalp, earning a strange low purr.

"Why are you here?" Roland asked, taking a step closer.

"Ain't that a nice question...Here's a better one." The blond stomped his foot forward and punched the leader square in the nose, hearing it crack loudly, the other Raiders went to raise their guns, only to find that they had none and were now restrained by a new group.

These guys did not look like Bandits. There was no psychotic screaming; no air of lunacy, these guys had their act together. Each one wore what looked like black prison jumpsuits with numbers branded on their arms, a ghost emblem was stitched somewhere on their clothes. The Raiders struggled, baffled at how these new enemies could restrain even their strongest members with little effort.

"Why are you all on Phantom territory?" Verner's voice hissed as he paced back and forth, looking at each vault hunter, his eye set on a particular Siren. A smile broke out once more, splitting the chapped skin on his lips, “Well well…What ‘ave we ‘ere? A Siren? I already heard of one who could Phase Walk, ‘eard she was very dangerous. But you? Who’re you?” The Skag-tamer leaned in close to Maya. The Siren sneered and spit in his face.

Verner staggered back and wiped away the saliva before slugging Maya hard across the jaw. Krieg thrashed wildly, both his sides in a fury over his precious Siren being attacked. The Psycho broke free of his restraint and charged at the man. Verner just laughed and seemed to skip back before whistling. The two Alpha Skags tackled the Psycho to the ground with amazing force. The Phantom Commander laughed louder and hopped onto Krieg’s chest, spinning a small digi-structed blade between his fingers.

“Awhawhawhawh maaaan~ you’re as bad as those damned Canisquaches that tried to eat all the cattle on pa’s farm. So mindless, so clumsy, so easy to kill.” Verner leaned over so that his forehead touched the top of Krieg’s mask, “But ya lucky," he exhaled harshly, "The Queen told me I can’t kill y’all yet. Shame really.” He swung his hand against the crook of the hulking man’s neck, instantly knocking him out. He hopped off his victim and had two of the Phantoms drag him back to the group. Maya began shaking violently, the other vault hunters looked at the Skag-tamer with disdain, knowing he made a horrible move.

“Now. I think I’ve made my.” Verner flicked his blade out again, “ _Point_.” The vault hunters groaned, if he wasn’t going to kill them through force, he was definitely killing them through shitty puns, “I thought you all would have gone running after m’boys did a number on those two,” he motioned to Brick and Axton, “But hopefully you get it now. Anywhosit, Queen’s gonna talk to y’all soon, gonna strike up some deal. One, you _really_ shouldn’t refuse. Oh and, thanks for takin’ Sienna. Queen’s gonna have my ass next time I have to report to her.”

The Siren couldn’t hold back any more, functioning off of pure instinct, Maya tossed her head back, her eyes and tattoos glowing a blinding indigo. She released an enraged scream and sent out a pulse of energy that suspended her enemies in the air. The Siren shrieked once more, two [](http://white-wolf-terra.deviantart.com/art/Ghosts-and-Raiders-Chapter-6-442587137#)large deep-indigo wings unfurled from her back, the Phase Orbs around her constricted tighter, her victims gasped for air, except Verner who smiled sickly and opened his mouth. The Raiders stood ready to attack.

"UP AN AT 'EM!" He screamed, more Phantoms poured from the buildings and in a flash of light the Raider's found themselves being shocked to unconsciousness, even Maya who seemed invincible at the moment. The Phase Locks dissipated, releasing the Phantoms.

"Send 'em home. Too bad Queen wants 'em alive." Verner sighed, kicking Roland in the side.

It was dark again. How many hours had passed? Or was it days? Maya didn't know, all she could feel was that she was restrained and warm. Her eyes slowly lifted, everything was hazy, the lights from Sanctuary blurred together. The sound of rough breathing resounded around her.

" _Hey...Hey...She's moving! She's moving!_ " The sane inner voice cheered, Krieg perked his head up then instantly focused his gaze to the Siren in his grasp.

" _Augh...Damn...What..."_ Maya's head spun. Footsteps drew closer and closer, sending her into alarm.

"C'mon Krieg. Let her go. We need Zed to look at her..." She recognized the voice as Roland's.

There was a snarl, "NEVER. PROTECT THE LIGHT!" That one was Krieg.

"I know you want to help her. But you haven't let go since we got here."

" _He's right. She need's real help. Just let him take her._ "

"NO NO NO! NEVER! OUR LIGHT! FOREVER BURNING! _"_

" _Look, I know those guys did this. I know we didn't see what happened. I know you're angry, Hell, I'm just as pissed. But we need to cooperate_." Krieg's conscience persuaded while his outer self clutched the Siren closer to his chest.

"Ow..." Maya exhaled, her eyes opening fully now. The Psycho nearly shoved his face in hers to investigate his companion. Krieg's dark brown eye darted around as he examined Maya's now shocked face.

"Baaaaack away Krieg." She breathed, weakly pushing him away, "Now...L-lemme...d-d-own...okay?" Maya still sounded weak, but Krieg complied, helping the Siren to her feet.

"That was pretty brave of you out there soldier." Roland commented, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Let's get you checked out." The three then slowly made their way to the clinic.

"You've been out for three days..." The Solder informed as Zed ran a thorough physical over the Siren, "And in those three days we've lost all contact with everyone outside of Sanctuary and lost all means of Fast Travel ability..." He sighed roughly and hung his head.

"Bastards." Maya huffed, pushing herself off the stretcher, and brushed off her clothes.

"And then Krieg over here," Roland motioned to the Psycho whom was entertaining himself by poking a loose tile in the wall, "Once he gained consciousness would not let you go. He sat there all three days holding on to you like you were going to disappear."

The Siren looked up at Krieg and smiled a little.

"ROLAND!" Lilith barged into the room out of breath, "Everyone! We...You need to see this!" She turned on her heel and dashed back out, the other three vault hunters tailing her to the headquarters.

What everyone saw was akin to a miracle, floating above the holo-table was what looked like a digital recreation of Angel. The Raiders could only stare as the seemingly deceased Siren hovered above them.

"He...Hello..." A familiar soft voice whispered through the air, "Gla...Glad to see you're all...okay..." Her words were breathy and forced, like she was struggling to breathe, "Good to see you're alright Roland..."

The Solder could only nod in awe, his words catching in his throat. Angel's form seemed to haze over a few times, the pixels that created her scattering off then recollecting.

"I can't thank you enough Angel, your unselfish act saved me and I wish I could repay you." He finally found the words.

"You...can..." The Siren exhaled, even if she was nothing but an image being projected she looked tired and worn down like she had used all her energy to talk to them, "...Hy...Hyperion...She has...Hype-" Her body seemed to grow static-like, "They hacked...My processes stayed in the mainframe from being connected...so long...I don't...want to...be...I tried to...fight...They're trying...to bring you...down...they brought me back...to...I'll turn all Fast Travels..." Angel's words and phrases ran together, forming incoherent ideas, "Last thing...No more New-U...Thank you...Don't let...Carefu--" Her form faded more, the static growing stronger, "Phase...Shift...Release...Good...Bye..." With her last words Angel completely faded.

There was a moment of silence for the Siren, everyone knew she was long past her time, but the depravity of these Phantoms kept her tethered to the systems all around the planet. The vault hunters bowed their heads and kneaded their fingers. Footsteps paced up the steps. Tannis walked into the room with Sienna in tow.

"Sorry. She requested that she see you all, that she remembered something." The scientist urged the ten year old forward. Everyone looked at the little Siren expectantly.

"You...I heard...Angel? The Queen talked about an Angel. She was a key...For--"

Static interrupted Sienna, everyone's ECHOs jolted to life.

"AUUUUGH! GOD!" A beastly voice roared over the airways, startling everyone in the room.  Sienna shrieked and hid behind Lilith.

"That's...her...The Queen." She squeaked as tear bubbled in the corners of her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot sickens~ I'm fairly proud of this chapter. We meet VERNER. A man chock-full of terrible puns with two Alpha Skags. Anywho. I think I'm starting to get better with including KriegMaya fluff and stuff into this story. Did you like it? How do you like Verner? I apologize for last chapter being so short and kind of...yeah.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Drop em. Rate and Review you glorious people.
> 
> Verner belongs to my awesome bruh Tyler/Aticure  
> You all are so awesome


	7. The Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, last chapter up before the Hiatus.  
> Enjoy

The room fell silent once more. Everyone exchanged glances and then fixed their gaze on Sienna who was on the verge of breaking down right then and there.

“Hey! I’m talkin’ to you!” The Queen’s voice hollered through the communicator, “Boy am I lucky. Boys back here track that little technophile Siren who goes and kills herself after she tries and tell you what the hell I’m doing. Auuuugh! It’s irritating really.”

“So you admit to hacking Angel back to life?” Roland asked authoritatively.

“Hell yeah. Figured you guys took lil’Sienna from us, got some leftovers from Hyperion over here, hacked up techn-Ophelia she hacks back with what she has, and tries to get you. Badda bing, badda boo-hoo she’s dead now. But at least I know where Sienna is. Hell, I can hear her sniveling like the baby she is.” Her voice was harsh and oozed confidence.

The Vault Hunters all stirred agitatedly, this woman had no restrain. The Soldier shifted his weight and huffed.

“Well, you sound awfully confidant.” He exhaled.

“I _am_ confidant! That’s how you survive. Look, I’m going to be civil here—so consider yourselves lucky—I want nothing more than to just get my little Siren back and go on my way. So, here’s the deal, we meet out in the old Dahl Well Graveyard. You can bring all your little Vault Hunter friends, I’ll be alone, no weapons, no tricks, just working out a plan okay? We go our separate ways.” 

"And if I decline?"

"Wellll...You better get some troops real fast then." The Queen coughed out a laugh.

Roland looked at his companions thoughtfully, his expression changing quickly from one of worry, to one of knowing.

"Alright. One week from today. Old Dahl Well Graveyard. Like you said, no tricks, no weapons." The Soldier stated calmly.

"Ah...Glad you're seeing it my way. One week. Good bye Raiders." The airways fell silent. Everyone looked at their leader like he had just thrown their lives away.

"Roland...what th--"

"I have a plan." He interrupted Lilith who huffed and slouched back, "They may have their act together, but it doesn't mean they aren't lying. Brick, are you still in control of the Slabs?" The Berserker smirked and nodded, "Lilith, think those bandits will still obey their 'Goddess'?" The Firehawk rose a brow then chuckled with a grin as if to say ' _Are you kidding? Of course!_ ', "Now. I know this one is a bit of a long shot." The Soldier cracked his knuckles, "There're still Bloodshots hanging around their fortress. And I think they still worship Marcus..."

Everyone began to catch on, even Krieg who wasn't even paying attention. Maya raised a hand.

"So, let me get this straight. We're gathering _BANDIT_ reinforcements? How can we trust them? How do we know they aren't Phantoms either?"

"If there's anything I know about Bandits, it's that one: they ally themselves with the strongest person they can find. Two: they will remain loyal to that person until the end of time. I believe most of our Phantom Bandits are the un-led clans around Pandora." Roland clarified, "I gave us a week to make sure we had it all figured out."

"What are we doing/The rest of us I assume/Do you have a plan?" Zer0 asked, his companions nodded and looked at their leader.

Roland waved his hand over the virtual map, bringing up the birds-eye of Pandora, "Zer0, you and Mordecai will watch the whole process go down. I'm confident that should things get hairy you two will step in. Mordecai you'll set up..." He circled a nearby alcove, "Here, Zer0 use your cloaking to hang closely. Got it?" The two sniper users nodded, "Lilith, you'll be with me, think you can phase us in and out of there? Especially out if she tries to attack?"

"Of course I can." She smirked and flicked a finger and tapped her cheek.

"Great. Lilith go get those Bandits back under your control, Brick get your Slabs ready. Everyone else you'll be positioned at Ellie's. Now go train, condition, run the plan, get supplies, you know the drill. We need to be prepared for everything. Dismissed." Roland commanded.

The Vault Hunters all scurried from the room, excited and terrified for the upcoming mission.

* * *

 

Four days had passed since the transmission from the "Queen" and all the Vault Hunters had found ways to stay occupied and prepare for what could come.

"Ex...Excuse me? Mister Axton?" Sienna cooed tapping the field on around her cell to get his attention as he worked on his turret in Tannis' "lab". The brunette grunted and wiped his forehead.

"What is it?" He replied curtly.

"You...You're all going to see the Queen...I uh..." The little Siren hunched over and grabbed her head, crying softly and gasping. Axton whipped his head to look at the 10-year old who was now curled up in a ball on the floor of her cell.

"He-ey...Uh..." He drew closer to the field hesitantly, not sure what to do, "MAYA!" Axton called to the upper level where he knew his teammate was reading over her tome, "MAYAAA!"

Rushed foot falls hurried down the stairs, "WHAT? WHAT?" The Siren asked. The Commando just pointed to the cell, Maya paced over and looked at the girl inside.

"Surge Headaches." She stated calmly, "When I was..." Maya clenched her eyes shut and shook her head remembering her time at the Abbey, "Younger...I got them a lot. It comes with being a young Siren. She'll be fine." As if on cue Sienna staggered to her feet and exhaled, a few tears running down her face. The young Siren leaned against the field and sighed.

"I uh...Good luck...The Queen likes to play dirty...I'm...gonna sleep now..." She stumbled over to the cot and passed out.

"See? Fine. I'm gonna head out to Three Horns, see ya." Maya nudged her friend and jogged outside to Pierce Station.

* * *

 

A part of him wondered how many beasts he could kill until they went extinct, another--more conscious--part didn't care as he punted a Skag Pup into a Varkid causing it to aggress towards him. Krieg pulled back his Buzz Axe, much like a baseball player would his bat, and waited until the giant insect flew closer...closer...clo--

_SHWHACK!_

The carcass of the beetle-like creature was hacked in two, a sickly mucus-yellow ooze poured from the body. Krieg kicked the half-body around like a soccer ball and casually shot it against the nearest rock watching the exoskeleton shatter into thousands of pieces. He laughed softly then groaned, he was prohibited from killing any bandits in this area since they were all Bloodshots and they were needed for the plan. This made him irritated, it had been a while since he had spilled blood.

" _Better yet the blood of those damned Phantoms._ " His inner voice growled.

And while slicing open beasts only to dance around in their organs while his saner half tries not to question him on why he's doing such a strange thing, human blood was perhaps Krieg's favorite option. The Psycho found himself a nice cozy rock and hunched down on it.

"Slaughter the ghosts. AVENGE MY LIGHT." Krieg snarled, tossing his head side to side making his neck snap and crack loudly.

" _Slow down there. Only if Roland allows us. Sure. I'd love for us to storm their defenses and hunt down that Verner who struck Maya...but we can NOT step out of line._ " The outer side just groaned displeased with his inner voice's order, " _But...I don't think they'll mind too much if we demolish a hive or two._ " Krieg smirked and hopped off his rock, lumbering towards a Varkid hive with a low growling chuckle.

As he drew closer to the hives the large silhouette of the Memorial Dam darkened the area slightly, the Psycho tilted his head and stared at the massive structure.

" _Careful, there could be Bloodshots. Roland said not to attack them._ " But the hulking experiment ignored his conscience, strolling closer and closer to the dam, no longer focused on destroying the hives. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a small group of Bloodshot Psychos skipping into the entrance of their hideout . He then focused up towards the top of the base, noting another Bandit with a megaphone.

"COME ONE! COME ALL! BLOODSHOTS! OUR GREAT MARCUS HAS LEFT OUR PROPHET A GLORIOUS MESSAGE!" The scrawny Psycho screamed, "OF EXPLOSIONS, BLOOD, FAIR MAIDENS, AND ALL THE LOOT WE CAN SCORE!"

Krieg's less-sane side liked the sound of that. On his unnatural instinct, he ran up to the base, blending in to the group, ignoring the comments of his subconscious yelling at him to get the hell out of the place.

* * *

 

"Well. I made the announcement Roland." The gun merchant said, polishing one of his new-arrival pistols.

"Thank you. I'll have Salvador head out there tomorrow." The Soldier replied.

"So ah...Roland..." The Russian mentioned, "This Queen...Do you think we're in for another big one?" He put the weapon down and leaned forward.

"Right now...I don't know. That's why I'm preparing troops. Lilith still has her followers, Brick has his Slabs, it's anyone's game right now and I just want to be ready to take this thing out before it starts." Roland huffed, his ECHO set off an alert signal from Three Horns, "Oh I do _not_ have time for this." He looked at the alert to find Krieg on top of the Memorial Dam from the signal, he switched the airway on to listen to what may have been happening.

"--and he shall come on the wings of a majestic bird with fire raining from the sky!" A cheer erupted soon after, Roland shut off the communications with the Psycho and flipped through his ECHO-contacts.

"He doesn't seem to be fighting, I'll get Salvador out there..." He connected to the Hispanic dwarf, "Salva--"

"TAKE THAT PUTAAAAAS!" Machine gun fire resounded.

"--dor..." Roland disconnected, he could probably send someone else out there to get Krieg...

* * *

 

"One...hundred!" Maya exclaimed after incinerating another Varkid. She stretched out her tattooed arm and laughed, 100 near-consecutive Phase Locks and she was hardly winded. The Siren sauntered up to the burnt corpse and plucked out a few still-good goo-covered magazine clips and digistruct them into her inventory.

"Maya..." Roland contacted her, "You're out in Three Horns right?" He sounded slightly irritated.

"Yeah...What do you need?"

There was a long sigh, "Krieg. He's not causing any chaos...but he managed to get into the Bloodshot base and just...find a way to make sure he isn't going to jeopardize this for us."

"Can do Roland..." Maya disconnected then switched channels to Krieg.

"Krieg...shhh...I don't know how you got in there...But find a way out of there WITHOUT killing anyone. Please?" The Siren muttered to her companion, "I'll be right outside."

" _...and this is why we listen to people._ " The inner voice scolded.

"--FOR OUR LORD MARCUS! AND FOR HIS SERVANT SALVADOR!" The lead Bloodshot howled, the others responded with dissonant howls of their own, throwing their arms up and fleeing from the dam.

" _Shit...They'll see her down there. RUN!_ " Krieg dashed through the mob of Bandits to the inside of the base. Fortunately, he was able to outrun the others and reach Maya just in time to hoist her off the ground and away from the flood of Psychos leaving the stronghold.

Once out of harm's way, the Psycho slowed to a jog and eventually to a stop then set the Siren down.

"Saved by the meat!" He grunted and jerked slightly.

"Krieg..." Maya's voice got low, Krieg recognized that tone from the many times she would scold Axton or Salvador for being reckless, causing him to instinctively shrink back, "I get that sometimes you cannot control yourself. I know there's a lot going on in your head...but... _please_...you know this mission is important. Can you put in a little extra to just restrain yourself?" She reached out to him and placed a hand on his bicep, "When this all blows over you can kill as many Bandits as you like." The Siren stopped for a moment and bit her lip in thought, debating on what to say next.

"Meat is sorry." Krieg growled softly and dropped his head.

"It's fine...we only have three more days. So if you wouldn't mind staying by my side, perhaps sparring a little, just to keep you out of trouble..." Her voice trailed off, the Psycho just nodded, "Anywho...back to Sanctuary."

* * *

 

It was now only one day before everyone would set out to aid their leader in dealing with this so-called "Queen", Roland had decided that it would be better for everyone to camp out at Ellie's to better prepare for the coming events. The majority of the Vault Hunters were taking this time to re-evaluate the plan, restock their supplies, scope out the area, or sleep. Maya had dragged Krieg out a little ways from the Garage and tossed aside her firearm.

"Alright. One last spar...don't hold back okay?"

Krieg knew exactly why she was so adamant on improving her skills; ever since the run in with Verner and his gang, the Vault Hunters had been wary now that they had been forced to see how underprepared they were to take on this new threat, and Maya was no exception. Krieg could see the determination behind her stormy eyes to get stronger to protect her friends, that drive sparked something inside of him.

" _Let's not hurt her...But we need to get stronger too._ " The inner voice commented, Krieg tossed his weapons into the dust and clenched his fists.

The Siren made the first move, sprinting towards her teammate; Krieg raised his arms and stepped forward, preparing to block her attack. Maya sprung up and kicked off his back like a springboard, staggering him forward as she rolled out her momentum and turned around, dashing back to her opponent. The Psycho stumbled back around and swung out his fist on instinct, Maya ducked and flipped backwards, kicking the Krieg in the chin sending his mask shooting up into the air.

Krieg fell back into the sand, dazed, " _She sure is stronger..."_ He sighed internally as stars danced above his head.

"Oh...Krieg? Are...you okay?" Maya leaned over at the now maskless Psycho, a few newer scars now marked the left side of his face, most likely the result of Varkid acid from his killing spree earlier in the week. The Siren crouched next to her companion and sighed, her focus now set on the long scar that ran from his right eyebrow to his right cheek where the stitches never healed properly.

A soft thud caught her attention as Krieg's mask fell by her side. She laughed softly to herself and patted her friend's face lightly.

"Hey...Get up..." She murmured, the Psycho stirred and groaned. He sat up and tilted his head at the Siren, his expression akin to one of a confused child, Maya couldn't help but snicker softly at his expression then held out his mask, "Sorry about that. I got carried away."

" _No no...you were amazing._ "

"Strongest cupcake of blood and death~" Krieg cooed gruffly as he set his mask right once more.

The Siren raised a brow and pursed her lips before standing up, "Yeah...Well let's get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

* * *

 

"Good afternoon Roland." The Queen chirped. She stood a good 6 feet tall, pelts hung from her shoulders and from her right hip. Her right hand was fashioned with a makeshift claw made of three bayonets, two long scars stretched across her hardened abdomen. Her greasy black hair was sloppily tied back, an all-knowing smirk graced her hardened face. Sienna had every right to fear the woman.

"Afternoon..."

"Ellena." The beast of a woman corrected, "Now, no filler shit, let's get to the point. Sienna. Give her back."

"She was never yours. She was a prisoner." Roland sneered, his voice growing angrier.

"Oh?" Humor filled Ellena's voice as she brought a hand to her chin, "How do you know? She could be lying. Maybe she's a spy. Maybe she's a robot, androids really are getting more realistic now a days."

"So could you." The Soldier retorted.

"Well. Then I suppose there's only one way to settle this. War. The gentleman's game." The Savage laughed and tossed her hair about, "See you on the battle field." A Phantom Buzzard lowered a ladder and Ellena took off.

Roland just stood there, a tide of suspicion swirling in his chest, he flicked on his ECHO.

"We're done here. Everyone, get ready for a war."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHHHH SHEETS.  
> Intensity.
> 
> This chapter took me a few days to do...  
> We meet THE QUEEN
> 
> Comment rate and review~  
> I love you all~


	8. Flashbangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh...so there's a little sensitive thing at the end. Read with caution.

How long had it been? A week? A month? Three months? They didn’t even remember, days and nights morphed together into a blur of bullets, blood, and blunt force trauma as another psycho fell victim to a Phantom Brute’s iron fist. The ground was now permanently stained crimson as the Raider’s “Alliance” forced its way into new territory. They were used to the Northwestern coast of Pandora, but the war had now gone south, both literally and metaphorically. The Raiders were losing allies faster than they were gaining them, and every plan they had was easily counter attacked by those damned Phantoms.

Roland looked over the makeshift map his troops had managed to piece together from their recent battles. The only good side was that it seemed like Ellena was just as new to the terrain as he was. The sound of shuffling caught his attention. One of the more “tame” Bandit’s came stumbling in with a small holo-projector protruding from his skull. The Marauder collapsed at the Soldier’s feet and a small blue light flickered from the lens of the device.

“Ahhhhh…Is this thing on?” the small figure of Verner appeared, “Oh, there you are mister tall, dark, and soon to be dead. How’s the Queen’s war treating you? Remember? Queen H-Ellena in a Basket? Ay?” The hologram snapped rather proud of his pun. Roland groaned, “Anyways. I’m feeling really nice today. So I’m going to tell you right now, I’m planning an attack on the northern forest. Y’know, where you have that nice little blue-haired Siren and her pet stationed? Yeah, them. So queue up some body bags and a bugle, cause you’re losing some Raiders tonight~” The Skagmaster sang before his image vanished.

Roland quickly picked up his ECHO and contacted Maya, warning her of the battle to come.

* * *

 

She was a Siren, not a sergeant damn it, so why she was put in charge of a horde of Bandits was beyond all her knowledge. She had just gotten the message that Verner was on his way with his own forces to counter hers. Maya ducked behind a large fossilized tree and reloaded, Krieg was somewhere farther up the lines most likely enjoying his Phantom bloodbath. The Siren tapped the nugget of Eridium in her front pocket, reminding herself that it was there for emergencies and that she would most likely need it to take down the annoying man that would be coming. She checked her gun one more and ran back out into the fray, incinerating her enemies as she charged to the front lines. With just flicks of her wrist Maya would Phase Lock her opponents and draw the surrounding Bandits to their incapacitated ally to be at the mercy of the Raider's Alliance.

Finally she saw him. Krieg danced around happily, firing off his shotgun in spurts, watching the Phantoms around him seemingly explode into a mess of blood and gore.

"AHAHAHAH I SURF THE TIDES OF THE SEA!" He howled, punting the head off of a midget.

" _Careful. I know these Phantoms deserve it. But keep your wits._ "

"ROGER DODGER!" The Psycho saluted his inner self then proceeded to dance on the bodies of the downed enemies.

" _Wait...You understood that...I need a moment_ "

Maya cautiously jogged to her friend's side and tapped his arm making her presence known, "Did ya save any for me?" She laughed and raised her gun preparing to fire.

"ONLY THE FINEST BLOOD SPONGES FOR THE PRECIOUS BLUE~"

The Siren took a shot, the energy pellet igniting her target upon impact. Her mind then comprehended what she had just heard. In slight thought she squinted her eyes and fired again, the cogs in the back of her mind now processing the phrase. It actually made sense. Sure, it was a little odd, but it made sense. After a few more minutes of constant bloodshed, the battle subsided; all the Phantoms in the area were eradicated.

"We...did it..." Maya exhaled dropping to the ground, not caring if she was lying on corpses, "We...claimed this area." Krieg plopped next to her and wiped a hand down his masked face as if to clean it of the blood it had collected. The other ally Bandits dispersed and explored the "Stone-Tree Forest” already trailing little crimson squiggles on the fossilized trunks as if to mark their territory.

"I doubt you wanna hear this...but Verner is making a move towards us..." The Siren groaned, glancing at the Psycho whose gaze hardened at the name.

Krieg's blood began to boil; he would make the Phantom Commander pay dearly.

"I'LL SPLATTER HIM INTO THE NEXT FINEST ART. HIS BLOOD WILL BE THE CLEANSING RAIN THAT WILL SOOTHE MY RAGE!"

"Shush shush there Krieg..." Maya flicked a finger and pressed her hand to a deep gash on the Psycho's chest; her tattoos glowed and emanated a calming pulse of light that healed the wound, "Don't run off yet..." The entire forest grew silent.

A chorus of growls echoed around the pair, followed by a soft laugh.

"Aye, she's right y'know. Why run off when I'm already here?" Verner smirked, Crash and Ripper sat obediently at his side.

Maya made a move towards her gun; a knife burrowed itself by her hand.

"Tut tut." The Tamer waved a finger, "I wouldn't move if I were you." The echoing growls drew closer. The Siren swung her head around to see a pride of Saber-toothed tiger-like creatures; each one easily the size of a Great Dane. Long bioluminescent tendrils flitted freely from their snouts. They stood strong and steady; their silvery coats flickered in the fading daylight; a few hissed and yowled in warning, as if itching to attack and take the Siren and Psycho their next meal. Maya gulped audibly and leaned closer to her companion.

"These beauties I found here can paralyze with a single touch of the whisker. And their bites can poison in an instant, killing their prey in seconds. I'd say their beauty is matched by their lethality."

Krieg trembled in rage, it was taking all of his subconscious energy to not spring and attack Verner for threatening his Siren. Images of him taking that snarky little head in his hands and crushing it into oblivion flashed in his thoughts, clips of bringing his Axe down on the Phantom commander reeled before his eyes, but he could only stare at the man.

  
" _It'd be suicide._ " His inner voice commented, " _And think about Maya...I know we've been through worse, but what about her?”_ The Psycho grunted and sneered at Verner.

"Now...Come along nicely." The Tamer smiled. The Siren and the Psycho just sat there, frozen. Verner removed his goggles and placed them atop his head, his gunmetal gaze turned cold and calculating as he focused on the Vault Hunters.

Maya's eyes widened a fraction as she slid her hand back to her pocket, feeling the Eridium nugget pulsate at her touch. Verner's calculated look caught her actions, his fingers twitched in instinct.

"Krieg...Hold onto me..." She murmured nearly inaudibly as she shifted closer to the Psycho. Krieg complied and slowly wrapped an arm around her waist.

Verner noticed the movement and stepped back, sensing a change in his original plans.

Maya grasped the purple element in her hand and squeezed, already feeling power surge through her system. At the same time Verner digistructed a small personal vehicle and mounted it. The Siren crushed the nugget in her palm and instantly felt her powers go haywire as two large indigo wings unfurled from her back. Verner fled with his pets like a bat out of Hell. Maya tried to dismiss her overpowered abilities, but to no avail. Everything around her became surrounded in purple orbs, including herself and Krieg. She watched as the area around her seemed to collapse in on itself in a haze of midnight-violet, leaving nothing but dust. The large Siren wings dissipated and Maya slumped over in exhaustion, catching herself on the Psycho.

" _Amazing...So powerful...Man...If we were a little saner I'd say--_ "

"Good job..." Krieg finished audibly, lightly embracing the Siren. His saner conscious was taken aback; those were _his_ thoughts _, his_ words.

Maya exhaled and loosely brought her arms around her companion's wide back, "Thank you..." She mumbled, hardly taking note of how competent the Psycho had recently been. Krieg merely reveled in the moment, pulling the Siren closer to him as if she would disappear at any moment, and pressed a hand to the small of her back.

" _This is nice..._ "

"Warm..."

"Well. Isn't this nice." A new voice huffed as their figure sauntered into the newly made clearing, "A Siren and her pet, sharing a tender moment. Augh, it makes me sick." Krieg looked up to see Ellena making a gagging expression. So this was the woman Roland had the "honor" of meeting.

"BACK AWAY! I'LL TEAR YOU UP!" The Psycho warned as he moved Maya behind him defensively.

The Savage laughed and ran a hand over her "claw", watching it gleam in the light.

"Oh will you? What makes you think that? I've already taken your other Vault Hunter buddies. I was hoping Verner would take care of you both, but...well guess not."

Maya staggered next to Krieg, still obviously winded from her last attack, and weakly raised up her tattooed arm, hoping that something would happen.

Ellena just cackled, much like that of a hyena, and hunched forward, unleashing the most ungodly war cry ever released. The Siren dropped her arm and fell to her knees, panic filling her from the inside, causing tears to flow from her stormy eyes. She clutched her head and felt a swarm of horrifying thoughts fill her mind. Krieg tried to stand strong but soon found himself succumbing to the cry, even his inner self became lost in the thoughts that were plaguing him. He couldn't move as the Savage approached him and struck him harshly on the crook of his neck, sending him to the ground unconscious.

Maya whimpered in an attempt to speak, she tried to move, it was like she was hooked up to a car battery that sent paralyzing shock through her system as Ellena sent her into a world of blackness.

* * *

 

No one had checked in for hours, no distress signals had been sent, what the hell was going on? Roland made his way back to the make-shift headquarters from the front lines. The opposing Phantom force had drastically dwindled. When he reached the camp, he was greeted by corpses all gored open and trailing back to the main tent. He followed the macabre red carpet inside to find both Phantom leaders relaxing comfortably. Ellena was chowing down on the severed arm of a nomad.

"She only eats vegetables." Verner remarked and snapped his fingers at the Soldier with a laugh "Get it?"

"Why are you here?" Roland demanded, his voice slightly wavering.

"I declared a ceasefire, new conditions. You give me my Siren back, I release your team." Ellena belched and began picking her teeth with a metacarpal bone. Roland stood there in shock, in only four hours his entire team had been taken hostage? And no distress was sent? No ECHO call? Nothing?

"Deliver her to the Bunker in three days. Okay?"

The Soldier quickly drew a pistol and shot the Savage square between the eyes. Her image warbled and wavered before regaining focus.

"...Wow. Nice aim. Too bad I'm already safe and sound." The images of the Savage and the Tamer vanished.

Roland scowled and bashed his hand against the holo-table. He pulled out the mini one-time fast travel Gaige had designed for emergencies per his request and put in the code for Sanctuary. The Ethernet sent him straight to Pierce Station.

* * *

 

The Soldier stormed into the original headquarters and to Sienna's cell. The little Siren shrieked in fear and slunk back to the farthest part of her cell and cowered.

" Mister Roland...Wh-"

_GGCHUCNK!_

The cell door slid open; Sienna shrieked again and threw out her arms in defense. Roland harshly grabbed her thin arm, blinded by his anger. The girl began wailing for mercy and swatted at his hand.

"LET GO!" She cried.

Roland snapped back to reality and dropped her arm, slumping down against the wall, holding his head.

"I'm...sorry...That damned Queen has all the Raiders held captive." He murmured, and looked at the offending hand, noticing a large blue smudge on it.

“You mean…Miss Lilith and Mister Axton…Miss Maya? Mister Salv-i-dor?” Sienna’s voice stuttered. Roland nodded and sighed.

He looked at the little Siren's arm to notice that her tattoo had rubbed off partially. Sienna looked at her aching arm to see the same thing, her eyes widened in shock.

"Wh-what? But...I could...the beast..." Her words jumbled together. Roland’s expression of rage now mingled with confusion. Was Ellena really right when she said the ten year-old was a spy?

“Why were they chasing me then…Why? Why did they want me? They won’t want me now. That’s good though…” Sienna exhaled and slid down the opposite wall, grabbing her head, “But the headaches…and…” The Soldier flashed a glance at the sinking “Siren”, his mind formulating a plan. He ruled out all possibilities, began taking every action into account, perhaps the Phantoms really knew she was a fake? Perhaps they didn’t? No, they clearly referred to her as a Siren. They had been to the Bunker before, they still had a map for it, the turrets were destroyed, yes, he could work with this.

Roland brought his attention back to Sienna whom was now having an identity crisis on the floor. He knelt down beside her, catching her attention.

“I have a plan.” He commented, “But are you willing to do something risky?”

“If it’s to save your friends…I’ll do _anything_.” Sienna pushed herself up and looked at the man with determination.

* * *

 

One month. That’s how much time had really passed since the war had started. Roland stood at the gates to the Bunker with Sienna by his side. In her hands was a knife and an oversized helmet rested on her head, slightly obscuring her view. A bright blue screen flashed into existence, the word "Welcome" typed itself on the projection as the gate to the base lowered. The Soldier and the girl slowly paced in, the gate now behind them rose once more.

"Welcome to the Graveyard." Ellena's cocky voice cooed, "No one here will attack you, please come up." A lift to the top descended and landed in front of the two.

"Well...this is it." Roland stepped on the platform, Sienna skipped on, a huge grin plastered on her face. The Soldier raised a brow at her and cocked his head.

"It's gonna be over Mister Roland!" Her enthusiasm was almost contagious as Roland felt the corner of his lips turn up in a relieved grin. The lift slowly rose to the area on top of the base. It felt like an hour and a second at the same time when the elevator docked at the top. The Soldier had his gun at the ready should anything go wrong, along with his scorpion turret.

"Afternoon Roland." The Savage smiled, "Glad to see you were smart this time."

"I brought Sienna, release my allies." Roland demanded.

"Right. Right." She pulled out a small tablet computer and flicked up several screens, each one with an individual Vault Hunter on it, their vitals and other information displayed next to them. Ellena flicked another app, a force field hummed to life around the Soldier. He shot at the energy in front of him, hoping it would have some effect. But it didn't. Sienna ran to the shield and stared sadly at her friend inside, weakly jabbing her knife at the field. Tears poured from her eyes in panic.

Then, something strange happened. A thick, inky, black fog floated from the false Siren's mouth. She staggered back and clutched her throat as if she was choking. The fog floated around her head as she struggled more.

"We knew she was a fake. It was all a part of the plan." Ellena laughed as the child gasped and gagged from the haze then collapsed. There was a moment of silence before Sienna rose to her feet, the fog still hung around her head.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." She droned emotionlessly and swung her arms up like a ragdoll, "My big sister! Miss Marlene!" Sienna flopped an arm to the edge of the platform where a tall and slender woman of about 30-something strolled out into the light. The woman wore a form-fitting black evening gown that matched her equally black curly hair that cascaded down her back. Vibrant tattoos decorated her left side as they glowed a soft black colour. When she reached the mind-controlled girl it was obvious to see the resemblance between the two.

"Thank you for that grand introduction." The older woman smiled, her voice was as smooth as silk and slightly hypnotic.

Roland could only stand in silence as he watched the Siren flaunt in front of him. The tables had turned drastically and his only option was to listen and try to plan a new route.

"Now. Let's see what you know about those Raiders." Marlene flicked her wrist and Sienna began blathering everything she had seen from the day she was rescued up until this point. Luckily most of it was just her talking about being in a cell, but one phrase rang out.

" _The Vault Key is in their headquarters._ "

The Soldier's eyes widened, another person after the Vault Key?

* * *

 

Maya stared up at the small screen suspended from the ceiling, broadcasting her leader's meeting with the real Siren. Anger boiled deep inside her, she could feel her abilities begin to flare but then be drained from her body through her restraints. The Siren dropped her head and sighed, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Not once had she felt so weak, had she felt so hopeless.

When both she and Krieg were taken to this base, they were in a state of twilight, but Maya had the "honor" of seeing her comrades in their own holding cells catered to their strengths. It was nothing but pain in here.

"Now. Say goodbye to everyone sister dear." Marlene's collected voice stated. Maya looked up at the screen once more to see the ten year-old holding a pistol in her hands.

"...Thank you...everyone. Thank you for taking care of me, you're good people." The haze around her head began to clear as she spoke, "DON'T LET HER WIN!" She cried before the fog thickened once more and she shoved the barrel of the gun into her mouth.

Maya could hear a collective scream of "NO!" from the cells around her and from through the screen before the view panned closer to the terrified face of Sienna as she pulled the trigger.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay everyone.   
> Two weeks ago was our school's production of Grease.  
> This past week was filled with essays and projects.  
> Not to mention I now have a cold.  
> But here is chapter 8.  
> Sienna dies and we meet Marlene.  
> Please comment and review.  
> (im looking at you ghost readers)  
> \--Ryzi


	9. Krieg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very "stream of consciousness" oriented chapter.  
> So it's not supposed to be completely coherent.

" _I never thought I'd say this...but I'm sick of blood._ " A voice sighed dejectedly in the back of Krieg's head. He cracked his bloodshot eyes open once more and lazily brought them to the cracked screen where he watched Roland get dragged off "courtesy of Marlene's mercy". The Psycho rolled his eyes and lowered his gaze to the table of surgical instruments and various vials of various liquids. He then looked at his arms, bound up and out like he was on some sort of medical crucifix. Krieg looked at the long scar that ran across his right wrist.

" _I don't know if surviving that was a curse or blessing..._ "

A shrill high-pitched beep broke his subconscious' comment before a clear liquid was injected into the back of his neck. Krieg cringed as the substance sent shocking chills through his nerves and set his brain on fire. He had his share of injuries and other pains, but the flood of thoughts and memories was enough to have a cry of distress escape his lips.

"Let's organize those thoughts. Let's pick up where the Good Doctor left off." A chipper male voice sung from the other side of the barrier, "You remember her, don't you? She made you into this after all."

" _How could I forget..._ " Krieg's eyes fluttered dizzily as a specific memory played before him.

* * *

 

"Well...Inmate KR-136. How does it feel to actually move again?" The Good Doctor cooed sweetly as she pushed back her long ginger hair. Krieg lifted up his arm, then his leg, and then sat up from the surgery bed.

"Why me?" He asked, finally standing for the first time in what felt like forever.

The scene before him hazed into another.

* * *

 

"I WAS FRAMED! I SWEAR!" Krieg cried, looking down at his bloodied hands then to the lifeless corpse of a girl next to him.

This place did not look like Pandora. The Psycho looked at the badge on the officer in front of him. HCD, The Hera Correctional Department. That's where he was, Hera.

As he was forced into Correctional Vehicle, Krieg slammed his right wrist on a loose piece of metal, creating a jagged laceration that was quickly draining. He passed out soon after.

* * *

 

He had been imprisoned for a year now, his bail still posted at a million dollars. Hera was corrupt that way. You were behind bars until you paid up in cash, or died, most people took the second option early. The wardens were notorious for torturing the inmates as well.

Krieg couldn't take it anymore. He had been battered, bruised, and bloodied to the point where nearly all sense of moral and self-respect had left him. He felt the air whoosh past him as he plummeted to the pavement below.

* * *

 

"Why?" The Good Doctor reiterated back to him, "Because we thought you had more potential. Hyperion paid your bail, funded my research, and here we are with second chances. You need to be careful though, another attempt to take your life like that could be permanent. Be careful with your new life. Now if you'll come with me." She led him to a new examination room, it housed only a padded chair with restraints.

Krieg raised a brow and looked at the doctor.

"Just sit. The restraints are only a precaution." She smiled again, closing her eyes as she faced him. Krieg cocked his head but did as he was told and sat. The Good Doctor pulled out a needle and drew a vial of blood from his arm.

"Okay, done. You'll need some follow up exams, but not here. All my equipment has been transported to the Hyperion WEP. So we'll continue there." Her last phrase garbled out as Krieg regained consciousness.

* * *

 

_BZZZZzt_

The buzzer startled the Psycho more aware, he picked up his head and coughed violently. These memories were becoming more and more painful as they grew more and more relevant to his current state, as they related to why he was half-sane with murderous tendencies. Some of his scattered thoughts came together, making that nagging voice in his mind louder and more authoritative.

"Lunch braaake~" The flamboyant doctor giggled as he strolled away from the glass, allowing Krieg to lower to the floor by the chains around his wrists, feet, and neck.

Krieg fell to his knees, hearing his chain clatter coldly around him. He was so tired, but he managed to crawl to the small window that allowed him to peek into the cell next to his. With a trembling hand the Psycho tapped the reinforced glass, staring at his reflection for a moment.

His normally full and healthy face was now hollow and sickly.

" _This is what happens after four days of nonstop torture..._ " He thought to himself.

* * *

 

Maya tiredly looked over at the filthy glass pane on the wall and took note of Krieg's condition, instantly frowning at his state feeling remorse for her friend.

When she had first arrived she made a mental goal to slaughter everyone involved in this sick scheme. The next day she asked herself "why" then proceeded to evaluate everything that had happened and chalked it up to that the bastards deserved it, and when she came to that conclusion she heard Krieg sobbing in agony from the other side of the wall and vowed that whomever was causing that much pain to her half-psychotic teammate had now reserved the top space on her list of "bastards that need to die".

The Siren stumbled over to the window then pressed her palms to the glass and rested her forehead on her hands, looking at him through her lashes. Seeing him so beaten down and defeated broke her heart. All her muscles ached as she watched Krieg try and pull himself again after collapsing. It was decided that whoever did this to him was going to suffer a slow death so painful that being eaten alive by thrashers seemed desirable.

Never once in her life had she felt so angry, so full of hate that she would even think about sending someone through such a torturous end. It came to her attention that she only felt this way about Krieg, that there were several other occasions where she acted rashly and all those times related to the Psycho.

" _Why though...Could...No...No...It can't be_."

She watched Krieg's harnesses drag him back to his original position hanging a foot above the floor, her powers flared furiously before being absorbed through her own restraints.

" _Perhaps_." Was the last thing she thought before fainting from the sudden surge loss.

* * *

 

"Ah, that was some great food. How'd you spend your break? Talking to your girl? The Siren next door? That's cute." The doctor laughed, administering another dosage to the Psycho, "Now...Judging by your reactions and vitals...I'd say we'll be hitting some pretty hard memories, so if you feel the need to scream, please, by all means do."

* * *

 

He shared a cell with three others, a family, two parents and a daughter. While their names and appearances seemed to escape all retrieval, hers branded into his memory.

_Tina_

Yes, the girl with shaggy blonde hair and the lazy eye with the button nose and slightly crooked smile. Tina, who would pat his arms and hug him after coming back from the hours of testing. The girl he would give half his rations to. The girl that needed to escape this hell hole, but she couldn't escape on her own, no she needed help.

The memory became more and more vivid.

They had managed to sneak a grenade into the cell and got her to hide it. The plan was for everyone to make it out. But Jack had other ideas. That morning, the entire cell block was rudely awaked by the sound of gunfire.

"Go on Tina! You can still make it!" Her guardian's voice cried in pain as their life began to fade.

"NO! We have to go together!" Tina wailed as she staggered to a stop, praying her parents would make it out with her. Krieg glanced at the two people on the ground, blood pooling around their fresh corpses as the girl stood frozen in shock.

"It's too late! We have to go." He ordered, hoisting the child over his shoulder and dashing out into the main lobby of the laboratories. Hyperion guards stood at the ready, surrounding him, their guns aimed at his head, "Tina...you still have that grenade?"

The blonde child weakly nodded and shuffled her leg, causing the explosive to fall in his hand.

"When I say 'run', you run as fast as you can..." Krieg knew he wasn't going to make it.

" _Be careful with your new life_ " The words of the Good Doctor echoed in his thoughts as he tossed the grenade up in the air and hunched over, shielding Tina with his body. The explosion nearly ravaged the entire lobby, Krieg could feel the skin on his back was scorched and littered with shrapnel.

"R-run..." He exhaled, feeling his body go into shock. With the remainder of his energy, Krieg rolled off the girl and watched her flee from the prison.

" _I hope she'll make it out okay..._ "

* * *

 

"With this new serum, his skin will be resistant to injury, he will have literal nerves of steel, his muscles will keep him strong yet agile. He will be able to withstand even the most extreme conditions. How's that for 'superhuman' ,Jack?" The Good Doctor laughed as she forced another syringe into Krieg's arm, listening to him gasp and cough while her boss watched in excitement.

"You've out done yourself again. He should consider himself lucky for being the only survivor of that lame escape attempt." The Hyperion CEO mentioned in his signature snarky tone.

"Thank you sir." The Good Doctor flipped off the hologram and turned back to her experiment, "Well inmate KR-136, you never cease to amaze. First you leap off a building and nearly shatter your spine. Now you take the blast from a grenade. Even without enhancements, you're amazing for a man with nothing."

Krieg glared at her through half-lidded eyes and cursed at her under his breath.

"While your body is a sturdy thing, your mind is not. How can we have a beast of a man obey the beck and call against born moral? Simple, eliminate it." A syringe was stabbed through his right eye, its needle making its way into his brain. Krieg hollered in agony as the substance was forced into his cranium.

Moments later he could feel all of his thoughts swirl up into a mess of static as his conscience was forced to being subconscious. Krieg felt as if he was watching his own body from the back seat as he began to thrash about wildly and screamed about riding bicycles made of meat, conducting poop trains, and stripping flesh.

" _No! NO! SHUT UP!"_ He tried to regain control.

"NO, YOU SHUT UP. MY BICYCLE! THE MEAT RIDES ON! SURFING BLOOD!" His outer self growled.

* * *

 

Everything else came in a blur of thoughts. Being caged up and forced to fight the other experiments. Being used as a test for other more grotesque creatures like the "Centi-Skag" or the "Metamorphic Thrasher". Breaking out and slaughtering half of the scientists in the labs. Recalling how Hyperion was able to use him to every sick pleasure they wanted. He was a puppet then.

But then came that fateful day. Where both sides couldn't take it. And there she was. The Good Doctor trying to pacify him with a knife to the chest, and Krieg taking out said knife and carving out her heart before crushing it in his grasp. Oh how he would paint the halls red.

He remembered escaping, surviving on his own for months on end, as his subconscious fought to be dominant once more.

All these thoughts were overwhelming, haunting him, sending him back into his original insanity. He was hopeless, they all were.

And then, he remembered _her_. The Siren at the station, the Siren who was on the other side of the glass in the cell next to his. He remembered how she stuck by him, and even after he seemed unredeemable, she was still there. He remembered Tiny Tina, and how even if she was slightly changed, she had made it from Hyperion alive and well.

There was hope.

* * *

 

"How are ya in there? You've been awfully quiet, looks like we have you all sorted out. Yes...according to all the records Hyperion kept on you...I think it's high time we continue my mentor's experiments." The doctor smiled and typed something into his keyboard.

Krieg could feel his thoughts and actions begin to fall in sync as his lips formed the phrase,

"The Raiders will rise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. We learn about Krieg!  
> I know quite a few of you believe in the theory of Krieg being Tina's dad...  
> But that always seemed a little too coincidental for me.  
> But I definitely thought they had some previous interaction since they were both Hyperion victims.  
> So..yeah.  
> There isn't really any shippy stuff in here. Sorry. I just had Krieg's backstory eating me away.  
> And if you have any concerns, do not fear, this is like...the half way mark!   
> Comment, rate and review.  
> ((i may or may not have a reader insert in the works as we speak))


	10. A Step out of the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhahahaha hah...hehe...soooo how are you guys? Good. Sorry for not updating sooner. If you've seen, I'm writing a new fic. But i'm not abandoning this one. I just needed a little change of pace. So after a nice little break...wah! Transition chapter~

It was impossible to sleep for Maya, listening to her companions scream and cry from the endless torture they were subjected to. She curled up on the bloody mattress in the corner of her cell and exhaled weakly, her powers were now being constantly drained, and she suspected Lilith's were as well.

Footfalls drew closer to the door; the Siren closed her eyes, preparing for whatever her designated scientist was going to subject her to. Instead, the door opened slowly and a voice spoke, "Don't make me regret this." in a muffled tone. Maya cracked her eyes to see a stranger lean over her and unlock her bindings. He sat her up and took her arm.

"Your friends are going to be okay. _He's_ going to be okay too. You have a small window of opportunity. I'll disable the security systems at noon. Everyone will be at lunch."

Maya was too focused on her savior's speech that she didn't notice the several vials of liquid Eridium that had just been injected into her arm or the sudden surge of energy now coursing through her.

"Hold it in, okay Siren? Preserve as much energy as you can." He patted her shoulder, "I'm going to help the Psycho now…and then that's it, you'll all be ready to go." The man placed her HUD device on her right wrist, "I already downloaded a map of this place if you didn't already have it, and I marked off where the weapon storage is…Good luck." He turned around and headed out of the cell.

"Wait!" Maya coughs, stopping the stranger, "How can I trust you?"

"Let me put it this way, what choice have you got?" He replied.

"Who are you?"

"The wrong man, in the right place." And with that he left.

Maya looked at the large syringes around her and clipped a few to her belt, " _I might need these…_ " She declared mentally.

* * *

Krieg hung silently from his cushioned crucifix, staring down anyone who passed the large observation window. He swung his feet back and forth and twitched his head.

" _Oh man…It's gonna feel so great tearing that damn doctor's heart from his chest…"_

The Psycho cackled wildly and thrashed around.

"Ahhh calm down there big guy~" The flamboyant doctor cooed ad wagged a finger.

"I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEART OUT! I'LL WEAR YOUR SKIN! HAHAHA!"

There was a moment of silence. The door in the observation deck opened with a hiss and low laugh.

"Hey! You don't have authorization here!" The doctor scolded. Krieg watched as a man in a large black cloak threw his knife into the arm of the doctor and charged him. The mysterious man grabbed his injured opponent and threw him through the large window into Krieg's chamber.

"Hehe. Have fun." He released Krieg from his bindings and left.

The Psycho landed with a thud and smiled grimly under his mask. He drew closer to the man who had put him through mind-shattering pain and knelt next to him. Krieg growled out a laugh and grinned wider.

"C'mon man...I sorted your thoughts out...I helped you remember who you were...You should spare me!" The doctor begged for his life.

"THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!" Krieg snarled, bashing his fist into the doctor's head, crushing it under his large fist, splashing brains and blood upon his chest.

* * *

It was growing silent, feet pattered away from the cells as the guards, scientists, and doctors all left for their lunch breaks. The cell door slid open on its own and Maya stood up. She stumbled outside of her cell and for the first time in a week she got to see her other companions.

Roland was doing his best to stand strong and proud, but Maya could see the start of a broken spirit behind his eyes. Lilith looked just as drained as herself, two large burn marks wrapped around her wrists, her hair was laying limply, obscuring her face. Mordecai could barely stand, he held a healing-hypo in a wound to his abdomen, trying to help it close up. Brick had chains hanging from his arms and legs, several blunt force bruises were apparent on his arms and neck-probably the result of being beaten into submission.

Axton didn't speak, he just stood there, looking down at the floor. Zer0's visor was cracked in several places as well as his armor. Salvador's right arm hung at his size, obviously broken in several places, both of his eyes were swollen and the marks of a muzzle were imprinted around his jaw. Gaige's robotic arm had wires fraying out of it, she limped around from both her ankles being sprained, her mascara formed grey streaks down her cheeks.

"...Welcome back Raiders..." Roland muttered weakly, "Let's get our weapons and get out of here."

The broken-spirited Vault Hunters followed their leader to the weapon storage as marked by the strange man.

The halls were nearly devoid of any guards making it eerily silent. The Raiders cautiously made their way to the room marked on the map. The door swung open to reveal a whole cache of weapons, including their own. Axton stumbled in to the room and found his digi-struct pack for his turret and constructed it to make sure it was working perfectly. The others dug around the room to find their respective weapons. Krieg was reunited with his Axe, which he seemed to cuddle it and stroke its blade. Maya picked up her E-Tech Maliwan Assault Rifle and smiled.

* * *

"ALERT! ALERT! ATTACK ON THE SOUTH WING! ATTACK AT THE WEST LABS! ARIAL ATTACK! ALL GUARDS NEEDED!" The intercom system alerted the prison, leaving the front lobby unguarded.

The Vault Hunters ran as fast as they could to the outside, realizing where they were. The Wildlife Exploitation Reserve. The sound of Buzzards zooming overhead caught everyone's attention. A whole "flock" of the aircraft were fleeing an onslaught of RPGs. One of the Buzzards exploded, flaming pieces raining down on the group as they tried to reach the fast-travel. An ECHO fell from the rubble in front of Zer0 who picked it up and kept running.

After what felt like an eternity of painfully running, the Raiders were able to reach the fast-travel fairly unscathed. Roland tapped in the code for Sanctuary and sent the heroes back home.

(line)

Upon reconstructing at Pierce Station, the group nearly collapsed.

"I'm ordering...A...debriefing..." The Soldier exhaled, Zer0 held out the ECHO device, "Later...Put it on my desk." The Assassin shrugged and left.

Maya huffed and headed to a quieter part of the floating city. She needed a break from this. No more Phantoms. No more shitty-puns. No more Amazonian women. No more glory-crazed Sirens. Just, no more. She found herself a nice quiet alley next to some boxes and anti-Hyperion propaganda.

" _How can I do this..._ " She doubted, " _These guys are too strong. They know everything now. They took us out in mere hours. Not even Jack's army could do that. We don't even know what they're after._ " Maya cradled her head in her hands and sighed, pulling her legs into her chest. Her breath hitched in her throat as a sob threatened to emerge. The only time she had felt this down was when she first crashed in the Windshear Wastes. The Siren sighed again and rubbed her tattooed arm, feeling the marks from the bindings that drained her.

* * *

Krieg was stumbling through town, his head aching.

" _Well...we know what happened. And yet I still feel like the back-seat driver. Maybe we'll just be stuck like this forever._ " The inner voice confessed.

"Forever isn't as long as five-ever." The outer half grumbled.

" _...Ugh. I think that Verner guy has gotten to you._ "

"Bad day, bad bad day. Very bad. Slaughter day."

" _You can say that again_."

The Psycho rolled his head and groaned loudly. He could feel his thoughts settling finally. A wave of sudden calmness fell over him and he just stood there silently, listening to his surroundings.

" _What are you doing?_ " His inner voice questioned. The Psycho ignored the little man in his mind and closed his eyes as if he was listening closely for something, but the only thing he heard was the typical chatter of the Sanctuary citizens. Krieg took a few more steps then stopped again, repeating the process of closing his eyes and listening. Still nothing.

" _What are you listening for?_ " But the saner half's comment was ignored again.

The hulking man lifted his head and craned his neck at a sudden sound, like a mixture of a cough and a gasp. Without any other thought, Krieg followed that one noise to its origin in a small alley.

And what he witnessed could have been enough to snap him sane, _could._

There was his beloved Maya, her face in her hands as she shook violently, muttering to herself, there was the occasional pit-pat of a tear or two hitting the pavement as she sobbed as silently as she could. Krieg felt his throat tighten, both halves of him knew what she was feeling, they had been there before. The Psycho took a few shuffling steps toward her and knelt down on a knee.

" _Damn it Maya...You're stronger than this!_ " She mentally slapped herself, but the tears kept falling.

" _What if someone else dies?! What if our escape is just another part of those fucking Phantom's game?! We don't have room for error! We're not strong enough..._ _ **I'm**_ _not strong enough...not strong enough..._ " Her thoughts raced faster and faster making her head spin. Maya pulled herself in tighter, " _Crying won't solve anything...Damn it...DAMN IT!_ "

"DAMN IT!" She shrieked, flailing out, accidentally kicking Krieg in the chest, "Ohmygod...I am so sorry..." The Siren's angry expression quickly fell to that of a broken and desperate one.

"I just..." Maya wiped her teary eyes and cleared her throat, "I'm scared I guess. These guys have us cornered..." It felt good to actually say what she felt instead of bottling it up.

Krieg rested his hand on the Siren's knee and shook his head, "No...good" he forced out painfully, like he really had to restrain any other words from coming out, "Bottles...grrr...no..."

" _We're scared too Maya. It's just hard for the big guy to show that._ " The Psycho scooted closer to Maya. In return she slumped over and rested her head on his shoulder.

There was a moment of silence between the pair before the Siren spoke up, "I mean...this could be it Krieg. Those guys could just...destroy us. Hell, they pretty much just did...And now, we can't come back. We're nowhere strong enough to take them down..."

" _Okay...comfort her...try to tell her it'll be okay._ "

The Psycho did his best to bring his companion into a strange embrace. Maya didn't resist the action and scooted closer, resting her head in the crook of his neck. The two sat there for a moment, ignoring the sounds of the city around them.

Krieg felt his throat tighten again and he swallowed a lump as his pulse began to race. The Psycho's eyes widened at the sensation and his muscles tensed.

" _That's called 'emotion' buddy. We still have those._ "

Emotion? The Psycho never felt such a thing. The only 'emotions' he knew were the unbridled joy of decapitating all his enemies and the burning anger when the odds were against him-which often sent him into a crazed rampage.

"THE MEAT DOES NOT FEEL! THE MEAT ATE THOSE LONG AGO! AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS!"

Krieg's sudden outburst startled Maya, causing her to jolt from her position and throw out her left arm prepared to take action. She looked around and realized that it was just Krieg.

"...God" She exhaled and readjusted herself, "I'm still not used to that."

The Psycho dropped his head like a puppy who had done something wrong. Maya looked back at her friend and sighed before leaning back into him.

" _Now tell her we'll protect her. Tell her she doesn't have to worry. Don't mess up again."_

Krieg grunted and clenched his eyes shut, manually trying to piece together his words. He brought his over-muscled arms around the Siren's narrow waist and bopped the top of his mask against the back of her head and exhaled. His lips formed tons of unspoken words and phrases before uttering.

"K-Krieg...Protect...Mmmm...Maya"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Today is my last day of break...Boo. And life is gonna get super busy.
> 
> I have my senior project to turn in. New York on thursday. A speech to give on friday. Prom's this weekend.  
> Then my English teacher is going to just give us another project to do (probably).  
> Then Finals are coming up.  
> And then I graduate. Ahhh...so scared. So very very scared.
> 
> Long story short...don't expect a lot of updates.  
> (HAHAHA watch I'll update like next week.)
> 
> Stay awesome.  
> Comment Rate Review
> 
> -Ryziiiiiiiiii


	11. Clearing the Fog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Heads up, I uh...This chapter is not my best, not at all. I realized that chapter 10 I had accidentally put some future events with current events causing a major screw up on my end. So this is me pasting together some things. Not much action. Some Floof. And a LOT of talking.

Maya sat there with Krieg for another half hour in a twilight state of consciousness. Krieg stayed absolutely still; afraid he might have another outburst like before. The Psycho exhaled slowly and shakily as he pulled the Siren closer into his chest, hoping that maybe for once in his life he was doing some good. The tattooed woman tensed momentarily then relaxed once more. She could feel a mutual warmth growing between them as the minutes seemed to slow and the ambient chatter fell silent. There needed to be more moments like this, more moments where she could breathe and forget everything for a while.

"Thank you Krieg." Maya whispered.

Krieg's chest tightened at her words and he grunted in understanding before tapping his forehead against the back of her tuft-y blue hair and smiling under his mask.

" _Yes. Yes. This is good. Maybe we can actually say something coherent!"_ But the Psycho just grumbled again, " _Okay maybe not._ "

The Siren slowly exhaled, this was the best feeling in the world, well maybe not, the best feeling would be not having to run from the Phantoms, or a chocolate milkshake with a back massage, but seeing as neither of those would be happening anytime soon, being practically snuggled by a blood-thirsty half-psycho was close enough. She finally found a safe place in this chaotic world, and as cliché as it sounded, it was in Krieg's arms. A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed thickly.

"Gonna scare away the ghosties~ Gonna pop'em like a cap, drop'em like its HAAAAWT~" A cheerful voice sung as it passed by the silent alley. Tiny Tina was skipping towards the Raider's headquarters, as lively as ever. Krieg's head shot up and he looked at the girl for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief.

" _She's been okay all this time. Don't worry._ "

"Did you know Tina?" Maya asked, "I mean, there was an ECHO from her parents that we found in the...preserve...and...Maybe you were there too?" Krieg only replied with a nod, knowing that trying to say something might end up in a vocabulary disaster. The Siren brought a hand to her chin and pursed her lips.

"And...I could hear that doctor outside talking about...being tested on...being a true monster..." She averted her stormy gaze into his one visible eye and fell silent for a moment, she scanned over his mask for a second then closed her eyes and cracked a smile. Maya's mind began to clear itself of any doubts she had before, and a new thought entered her head.

"Krieg." She started, "You're really something else." The Psycho shifted back.

" _What? Where are you going with this?_ "

Maya stood up and stretched her arms over her head, "I mean, look at you. You could have become a senseless killing machine. Hyperion could have had you completely controlled. But no, even with all this power, you've managed to hold onto something that both Jack, and these Phantoms lost."

Krieg raised a brow and cocked his head, curious as to what she was going to say.

"Moral. Jack though he was doing a service by trying to slaughter Pandora. And these Phantoms--"

"Raiders. Come in." Roland's voice crackled over the ECHO, "All Raiders, report to the Headquarters, you're going to want to see this." He sounded urgent, and perhaps slightly panicked.

* * *

 

"L-Look guys...I-I-I'm here for your own...OW!" Verner coughed as Brick swung his fist across the Tamer's face, toppling him over onto the floor. The blond Phantom spat some blood on the floor, in which Tannis grumbled about the savagery going on.

"A'ight here mister!" Tina growled and sat on the man, "I 'ear ya messin with mah shawties...IS THAT TRUEEEEEE?!" She jabbed a finger in his cheek.

"L-Look...Everyone...I...I know we've gotten to a bad start, hell, you can kill me after this...but...just let me speak! PLEASE!" He cried.

The Siren and the Psycho joined the other Raiders on the ground floor of the HQ where Verner was tightly tied up in a chair in nothing but his boxers.

"I...That ECHO you got...play it...then..." He nodded his head to the pile of his discarded clothes, "There's transmission chips in my pocket, play those too."

Zer0 played the ECHO recording.

"Excuse me Marlene?" Verner's voice spoke through the ECHO, "Why are we recording this?"

"Simple, when I leave my legacy, I want every galaxy to hear about how we tamed the universe." Marlene laughed, "That'll show those backwater assholes on Doi Sori that they messed with the wrong gal...I mean...Woman."

"So...Why...Pandora?"

"AUGH! Didn't you hear?! They found the Vault Key there! It can open every Vault in existence. And once I have it...Oh hoooo~"

The recording crackled to a halt.

"She...Wanted revenge on everyone. Not just those on her home planet either. She was a pirate, a power crazed one at that, but...she sucked at it. Luckily that bitch was good at running away. But enough of my talking. Play another one.”

Lilith grabbed the wrinkled jacket on the floor and shook it violently; two small chips fell from a pocket and clattered on the floor. The Phasewalker picked the small devices up and looked at them quizzically.

“Play the red one first.” Verner exhaled, “Hey…Kid would you mi—“

“NOPE!” Tina slammed her shoe on the Phantom’s ear making him howl in pain.

The Raiders all shared an amused laugh. Lilith tossed the transmission chip to Zer0 who caught it and inserted it into the ECHO recorder, and then pressed “play”.

“Sorry Sienna…But it had to be done.” The Phasecontroller sighed as a pneumatic hiss sounded in the background of the recording.

“She’ll…She’ll be okay…right?” The Tamer asked in the distance, “She won’t die right?”

“OF COURSE SHE WON’T DIE IDIOT! Ellena’s gonna take care of her. And when you get on Pandora, you can too.”

“But her condi—“

“I know. I know. She’s in the last stages of ..." Marlene choked then regained her composure " but just think Vern, with the plan set in motion, and the Phase Control already taken effect, she’ll have forgotten it all by the time she’s there.”

“But…”

“And once we have the Vault Key…I’m sure one of these Vaults has the ability to cure her, now, get in the pod. It’s time to go.”

The recording stopped, a silence befell the Vault Hunters. Was any of this actually real?

“All I knew was that I was protecting Sienna. That’s all I wanted guys. Marlene killed Crash and Ripper after I tried to sic ‘em on her.” Verner sighed, “Play the last one.”

Zer0 swapped out the transmission chips.

“WE’RE TOO LATE…DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL!” Marlene shrieked over the ECHO, “SOME ASSHOLE TOOK THE VAULT KEY AUGH!”

There was a silence in the recording.

“No matter. With Ellena’s influence growing daily as well as Verner’s, it won’t be long until we take over. Why didn’t we start here in the first place? It’s just a mining planet with nothing but mindless bandits.”

“Marlene…I picked up readings of a…more intelligent civilization.” Ellena’s voice crackled, “Just a town or two though.”

“Toy with them. Better yet. Send Sienna their way. Batter them down. Do what you wish, they have to know where the Key is.”

The Raiders all glanced around at one another, not sure what to make of this information. Roland stepped forth and set the Tamer upright, much to Tina's dismay.

"Let me get this straight. This...Marlene just wants the Vault Key for revenge and universal domination?" He tilted his head and scratched his chin, "And you expect us to believe that..."

"Look I don't expect ya to b'lieve anythin...but it's the truth...she's a greedy ass bitch and wants the universe eating out of her palm...C'mon guys..." The Tamer's voice cracked and wavered as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Everyone deadpanned at the Phantom commander, un-amused in his attempts at some sort of truce. Verner hung his head and sighed.

"Guys...what do I have to do to get you to trust me? Look, if I had no faith in you to bring Marlene down, I wouldn't have risked my neck getting here and crashed my buzzard into the shield just to talk lies." Verner begged. He clenched his teeth and did what he could to hold back his shaking voice.

But there was still silence from the Vault Hunters. Roland made a motion for everyone to go upstairs in the debriefing room.

"Tina, you keep an eye on our...guest. Make sure he doesn't do anything." The Soldier ordered. The thirteen year-old saluted and faced the prisoner with a sick grin and low giggle as her friends walked to the second floor.

* * *

 

There was an uneasy tension that hung above the Raiders. No one wanted to trust the dirty rat who had already taken down a portion of the Vault Hunters before that worked for a power hungry Siren. Everyone shifted their weights around in thought as each one tried to piece together their own ideas and theories.

"We might not have a choice..." Lilith huffed and winced mentally at the thought of working with the Phantom Tamer.

"...Looked real broken..." Mordecai mumbled and scratched the back of his neck. He recalled the events with his beloved Bloodwing and dropped his head.

"I bet he's brainwashed too." Axton theorized and crossed his arms with a scowl, then looked over at Zer0 who stood still and silent.

"I say we just kill him, bastard's done enough." Brick rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck before leaning back. There was another awkward silence.

Maya dragged her hand down her face and sighed. She didn't believe in killing an unarmed man, but he had also been the one to subdue Krieg without a second thought. The Siren groaned and continued to weigh the outcomes. She looked over at the Psycho who was seated on the ground tapping his skull as if to be thinking.

" _He had the look. The one a desperate man gives with no options left. The same look--_ "

"--we had in that cell..." Krieg finished outwardly, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"Hel-looo, who was that?" Gaige darted her head around. The Psycho stood up, nearly towering over everyone else. The other Raiders looked at their companion, some with slightly agape jaws. Krieg furrowed his brow and looked at the others. Maya smiled in his direction.

"Krieg? Do you have an opinion?" Roland asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

The Psycho jolted in shock, most of his companions wouldn't give him the light of day unless they were out in the middle of combat, and even then it was rare.

" _Don't screw up. Don't screw up. For all that is sane and merciful, DON'T SCREW UP."_

"Eh...Hng...Desperate...Times...call for desperate measures..." he groaned like he was in pain before hollering, "CRASHING AND BURNING ALL THE WAY TO HEAVEN!"

More silence. Krieg instinctively looked over at Maya like he had done something wrong, but the Siren was actually smiling slightly at him. God, that smile could have melted him right then and there.

* * *

 

Verner was engaged in a staring contest with the lazy-eyed thirteen year-old. His fate rested in the hands of the people in the room above. The Tamer darted his gunmetal eyes to the door and turned his head, something had caught his attention.

"Eyyy, look back here dopey!" Tina huffed and pouted.

"Kid...Run upstairs." He sneered at the shut door then looked at Tannis who was peeking out of a window into the center of Sanctuary, "You see her too, don't you. Grab my jacket and get upstairs, both'ya"

The scientist didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed the jacket and took the young teen by the arm and clambered up the steps.

Verner closed his eyes and prayed to any form of God that what would happen next would be painless. The door swung open and there stood Ellena proudly. Her makeshift claw dripping with blood and upon her shoulders were two Skag skulls fashioned as epaulets. The Tamer looked at the Savage and smiled.

"I knew she wouldn't let me run far."

A zap then a woosh sound resounded from the top floor, he knew they were out of harm's way now. The beastly woman sent her own herd of Psychos to scavenge around the structure for anything worth investing time into, mainly the Vault Key, but after a few minutes of fruitless effort, Ellena grew furious.

"Round up the remaining citizens, everyone! Hold them hostage! Marlene will be furious if we come back empty handed!" She commanded and the Phantom Bandits scurried out into the streets.

"You'll never win. You know that Ellena." Verner smirked.

"Ah SHUT UP!" Ellena swung her fist hard across the ex-Phantom's jaw. He landed with a thud and a grunt, then laughed.

"Ah man...I _really_ wish I would be there when your wife gives you what for. I mean, that's all ya really are to 'er. Just another pawn. And she... _oh_ she's the _real_ Queen." The Savage bent over and untied her old partner. Verner rose to his feet and crossed his arms, still smirking, "She makes any move she wants."

Three cold steel claws pierced through the Tamer's chest with a satisfying crack. He coughed and spat up thick clots of blood with another laugh.

"You'll...never...catch them" He wheezed with a smile.

"And why is that." Ellena sneered.

" 'cause...heh...ya have...bad hand-eye coordination."

The Savage growled and thrust her claws upwards, splattering fresh blood all over the stress-worn metal walls. For a moment, there was silence. Ellena departed out into the town square and stared out into the starry sky. She wasn't going to rest until she had won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: AHah so uh...yeah...its been like...almost a month since I've updated. Sorry. I was really unmotivated cause i have only 2 weeks of school and starting monday I'll have a part-time job. Oh and my teachers are cramming everything into these last two weeks. BUT, some...good news is that this story is well not "close" to the end, but we're past the half-way mark. And I know you all don't want this to end, or maybe you do, but...uh...I don't know where I was going with that, BUT I have like...a few new fics in the process...not exactly Borderlands ones either. BUT. BUUUT. Yeah. Uh. OH RIGHT. Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands, WHOSE EXCITED?! I hope in Tales there will be a hint of KriegMaya, cause yeee. I mean, there might not be...but we can only hope.
> 
> Peace out my sweet Potatoes
> 
> -Ryzi the Tater Tot
> 
> PS: yep another one bites the dust.


	12. New Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things make a little more sense and I put in excess fluff.

* * *

"Lilith...Where did you take us?" Roland asked, staring at the large scrap metal wall in front of him and the rest of the group.

The Phase Walker looked around at the desert in the surrounding area.

"Well...I was hoping Fyrestone. Since y'know, we can just clear out any leftover Loaders and take some sanctuary here...but..."

A small slit opened in the metal wall, two angry brown eyes stared through the small opening.

"Who are you? Did Verner send you?" An equally angry voice interrogated. The Raider's stepped back from the door and exchanged glances.

After a few moments of boiling over a proper response, Tina poked at Tannis' arm, drawing her attention.

"Ya still have that dirty ass jacket he told ya to grab don'cha?" The explosives expert asked the scientist. The older woman looked at the dirt-stained jacket hanging from her hand and held it out to Roland. The Soldier raised a brow in confusion.

"That...Phantom guy...He told me to salvage his jacket. I suppose it must be of some importance." Tannis mentioned. The dark-skinned leader took the garment and examined it, noticing a crudely sewn on patchy pocket on the inner lining. He reached inside and pulled out a strange teal device, it vaguely resembled a thumb-drive of sorts.

"You there. Dark strong one." The voice behind the wall beckoned, "Bring that here."

Roland obeyed and held out the small device for the person behind the door, and after about a minute, the large metal door slid open, revealing Fyrestone behind the twelve-foot wall. Men in pitch black jumpsuits wandered around the grounds of the ruined town. Some were welding together pieces of sheet metal for the wall, others were rebuilding the fallen shelters around town, but they all had something in common; they all had some sort of beastly companion by their side.

Talon screeched in excitement from her perch on Mordecai's shoulder. The Hunter patted his flying terror on her wing and smirked.

"What's going on here?" Roland asked.

"We're holding out here. Preparing for when the Phantom Queen and her "wife on a leash" come to try and kill us." The man guarding the door informed.

"Why Fyrestone?" Lilith inquired. The guard flicked the teal device between his bandaged fingers.

"We passed by here a while ago, when we attacked your buddies there." He motioned to Brick and Axton, who looked rather furious, "Sorry 'bout that, if we would have known that…" his voice trailed off and he averted his gaze, "But let's put that all behind us! I'd appreciate it if you could help the guys out. Oh and are any of you good at working with wiring? Keith lost his arms in the disaster and he was our only tech-savvy guy."

Gaige's eyes lit up at the thought of getting her hands into some new mechanics.

* * *

Krieg really had no interest in helping out, so he made do with aimlessly wandering the dirt streets of a reconstructing Fyrestone. A soft blue light caught his attention. The Psycho swung his head to the source to find a familiar Hyperion Loader's Power Core dangling from a shanty awning. A small grin cracked under Krieg's mask as he made his way over to the luminescent object.

" _Hah. Like a home away from home._ " The inner voice commented.

Krieg nodded and stepped into the hut. Everything was as he left it. A blanket made out of fabric scraps lay discarded on the floor, another power core was lodged in the clay wall, and Maya passed out on the cot at the far right of the room.

" _Wait. What?_ "

The blue-haired Siren stirred and rolled over, ungracefully falling off the stiff mattress with a thump. Maya groaned and pushed herself off the ground. A snicker escaped the Psycho's lips, startling the Siren.

"Oh! Uh. Hey Krieg!" She greeted awkwardly and brushed off the dirt on her combat suit, "I uh…guess you're not helping out either, huh?"

Krieg shook his head and swayed a little in place.

"Yeah, I want to…but those guys are terrified of me, ever since the incident in Liar's Berg…" The Psycho cocked his head to the side and exhaled a confused grunt, "Right. You were…knocked out…Well. I sort of…" Maya stood in a hunched stance and willed her tattoos to flicker like she was using her powers, but no Phaselock orb formed in her hand, "And then I…" she swung her arm up and made some sound effects to represent her trapping Verner's troops being captured, "And all in all, almost killed them."

" _Damn. What I would have given to see that…_ "

"SOoooOoo precious my lov—MURDER MACHINE~" Krieg instantly dropped his head and his shoulders, disappointed in his sudden choice of words. Maya cracked a small smile and patted her friend on the arm. Upon contact, a strange jolt ran through both their nerves. The Siren quickly withdrew her hand and laughed awkwardly.

" _What the hell was that?_ " She asked herself then hesitantly tapped a finger on her companion's shoulder, but there was no "shock" this time.

Krieg was also curious to the strange sensation, " _Try…uh…putting your hand on her shoulder? Damn in all the years we've been alive…_ " the voice trailed back into the subconscious silence. The Psycho held out his battle-worn hand and plopped it right on Maya's face with a muffled "fwump".

" _I said shoulder. SHOULDER. First we have no control over what you say and now what you do? C'mon. Pull yourself together._ "

But Krieg just stood there, frozen; he couldn't seem to act anymore. His breath was shaky and almost forced, a twinge of embarrassment hit in his stomach, and his knees felt weak. What was so wrong with him? The Psycho had never felt so strange. His gaze hardened and…

"Pffffffffffffft" Maya sputtered a laugh, "You…hah…You alright in there Krieg? Is the heat already getting to you?" She kept laughing. Another twinge was sent through Krieg's nerves as he slightly twitched his fingers to move. He trailed his calloused fingers down her cheek.

"Yes Krieg. That's my face." The Siren giggled, she wasn't quite sure why she found herself laughing. It was do or die now for the Raiders, and yet here she was in a giggling fit over practically nothing.

" _She's making fun of us. What are you doing? I mean, yeah, she's as beautiful as the sunset and her laugh is like a song…but…"_ The inner voice sighed defeated " _She wouldn't give us a chance. She probably just feels bad for us…_ "

Once again, Krieg ignored the loathing rambles of a saner self, and now had his hand cupped around Maya's jaw. Another jolt pulsed through the pair, halting them. The Siren's laugh subsided along with the Psycho's sane subconscious. The Phaselocker looked up at her companion with an expression of shock and awe. Her lips parted slightly and her stormy-grey eyes seemed to darken a shade. A lump formed in Krieg's throat. Something about Maya's visage was pulling him closer until he could feel her small hands around the back clasp of his mask.

She wasn't sure what she was doing; everything was going on instinct now. A nervous fire burned in her stomach and her eyes darted every which way around Krieg's false face. Why did she feel so…drawn to him? Sure, she knew she was a bit more sympathetic than most on Pandora, but she was confident that this feeling was something more than that.

The Bandit mask fell to the ground with a clatter, but the two ignored it. Maya evaluated his true face. Same scars, same rugged expression, and yet he looked less frightening, strangely...attractive. A small smile formed on her lips.

"AH-hem!" Someone coughed from outside, "Roland needs everyone…So if you two are done."

The two jumped back and looked at Tannis, who wore a knowing grin on her face.

"I…uh…yeah." Maya stammered and looked back up at Krieg, who scrambled for his mask and reattached it.

* * *

"Everyone." Roland greeted his team and motioned to a holographic screen in the center of the room, several other ex-Phantoms were gathered here as well.

The screen flickered to life and took the form of the recently deceased Verner.

"Brothers, if you're hearing this, Ellena killed me. I know those Raiders were our main objective, but there's been a change in plans. Help them in any way possible. Marlene…She…SHIT!" The transmission flickered to a new message.

"Raiders. As you are all wondering. I got you out of Marlene's hold. I know my guys are strong, but they won't stand a chance, you have the home field advantage here. What happened to Sienna…wasn't supposed to. We were supposed to open the Vault, and save her somehow. She…" The holograph choked up, "Marlene isn't all powerful. Her Phase Control only works on organic creatures. Anyone with cybernetic enhancements or have been extremely altered won't be affected. Also, she has no control over the Bandit clans. That's all Ellena's doing. Take out Ellena, she's down a lot of troops. I wish I could be there to help you all, but well…yeah."

The holographic figure faded back into a screen, there was a moment of silence before one of Verner's "brothers" spoke up.

"Where did you all come from?" It was the same guard from before.

"Sanctuary." Roland answered.

All the ex-Phantoms looked around with puzzled expressions.

"Biiiiig flyin' city in the sky. Like. Bigass big. Like. Madam Felicia Sexopants' badonka-donk BIG." Tina leapt around waving her arms.

"NORTH STAR!" Krieg hollered, getting riled up from the thirteen year-old's actions, "SKY DIAMOND!"

"I uh…Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." The guard just nodded and pursed his lips, "Well if that's where you came from, that's probably where she is."

"Most definitely where she is." Tannis commented, "Saw her in the square. Beastly woman. That's when your friend told us to get out."

"Then let's go get those putas and show 'em why ya don't mess with Vault Hunters!" Salvador let out a battle cry. The other Vault Hunters held up their weapons and cheered as well. The guard shook his head and held up a hand to try and silence the bunch.

"As heartwarming it is to see you all want to rush in, the best plan for now, is to train and wait." The mercenaries' cries fell to a low roar. Roland raised a brow and crossed his arms, "Look, if we could take you all out in a matter of seconds, Ellena will rein Hell on you in a heartbeat."

"And it would be best for her to rush and make a mistake rather than we do it." The dark-skinned leader assumed.

"Exactly. Now I see why you're the leader. Look, the brothers here would be more than happy to help you fuck up Ellena, so make yourselves at home. My guess is…she'll start bargaining after…two…three days."

Roland looked around at his companions, noticing how unusually quiet they had been. His band of Vault Hunters weren't the most complacent bunch, and didn't take well to receiving orders from strangers. The Soldier waved a hand to dismiss his friends and watched them almost sulk out of the main structure.

* * *

Maya had found herself a nice open area to practice her Siren abilities where no one would run the risk of getting harmed should something go awry. The Siren held out her tattooed arm and focused on a discarded engine block rusting away in the sand. A small purple orb surrounded the hunk of metal and lifted it above the ground. Maya made a flicking motion with her wrist and flames engulfed the Phase orb. A smile found its way across her lips and Maya disengaged the Phaselock.

"Okay. Good…Good…" The Siren muttered to herself.

" _Ugh, this sun is killing me._ " She looked up at the cloudless afternoon sky, reminding herself that she should take a break soon.

* * *

Krieg was aimlessly wandering around the rebuilding town when he spotted Maya out in the open, doing what seemed to be some sort of meditative stance. The Psycho cautiously walked over to a pile of debris and hid behind it, watching his crush slowly awaken from her calmed trance. He watched as she took the tome from her side and read through it for a moment before returning it to her side.

" _She's still using it…_ " Krieg could feel himself smile under his mask. He focused his gaze on the Siren and followed her glowing arm as it created a Phase orb that engulfed a stray Rakk flying overhead. She swung her arm across her body and snapped her fingers, releasing a deadly concoction of slag, acid, fire, and electricity within the telekinetic orb. The aerial beast screeched in agony as it suffered the elements.

The Psycho smiled wider, at the carnage, and how Maya made it seem like a graceful art. He felt his chest tighten and his muscles twinge. Oh what he would give to be by her side and destroy every living thing. The Siren balled her hand and thrust it forward, exploding the Phase orb.

Krieg leapt up from his hiding spot and hollered wildly, clapping his hands and jumping around. Maya jumped back into a defensive stance, but soon realized it was only Krieg.

"GLORIOUS! ALL SHALL FALL TO THE FOREVER-BURNING LIGHT MAIDEN!" He cheered and ran over to the Siren.

A small blush dusted Maya's porcelain features and she smiled, "Thanks."

" _Offer to help her train. Anything to see such wonders again._ " The inner voice cooed with a smile in its tone.

"AID THE LIGHT MAIDEN?"

Maya took a step back, her eyes widening a fraction. Was that a coherent request?

"Say again?" The Siren had to know now.

"Aid…the…Light Maiden?" Krieg asked slower and cocked his head.

"Uh, yeah." It was.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, after a wait. Here's chapter 12! I had the urge to give this a lot of fluff, and yeah! Hopefully some questions are cleared up too. Also! Today's my last day of High School. WOO!
> 
> Oh! This weekend I'll be attending Balticon as a Nitro Spicer, so if any of you guys are going, drop a line!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed~
> 
> See ya later sweet potaters!
> 
> Promo time! If you like this story, read Befuddler's [ Psychosis Maybe?](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10152346/1/Psychosis-Maybe)


	13. Transition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I go from "Fuck, i screwed up the plot"  
> To "Hell yeah, i re-worked it"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO back in chapter 11, I really messed up.  
> I lost my timeline and well...  
> Shit went off track.  
> I'm not proud of this chapter.  
> I apologize, you are all so awesome.   
> I promise, chapter 14 will be hella great.

"Keep it up! Keep it up! Go go!" Tina cheered atop of Brick's shoulders as he finished his fiftieth set of pushups.

"Aw yeah! That's it!" Axton side stepped his sparring partner and countered with an elbow to his opponent's spine. The Commando laughed and performed a spin kick, knocking the man to the dirt.

"Looks like everyone is doing better." Lilith smiled as she stood next to Roland who was tinkering on his Scorpio Turret. The Soldier looked up to the fiery-haired siren and wiped his brow.

Lilith looked off into the distance where she saw a roped off area of Fyrestone and a group of people sitting in a circle. Curious as to what was going on, the Phasewalker strolled over to the location where she found a piece of paper hanging over the rope that reads "Meditation Zone, please be silent". Lilith evaluated the group within the boundaries.

Zer0 and Maya were sitting upright and unnaturally still, several of the ex-Phantoms looked to be attempting to find an "inner peace" but instead were falling asleep, and Salvador was passed out in the dust. Lilith stifled a laugh and stepped over the rope, taking a seat next to her fellow Siren.

* * *

The Phaselocker sensed another person's presence and shifted her position slightly. Maya kept her eyes closed and inhaled deeply, trying to refocus herself. The distant sounds of training faded and a slight tingling sensation could be felt in her left arm. If she was grateful for anything she learned at the abbey, it was how meditation could greatly improve her abilities. Maya proceeded to mentally perform her action skills and review the proper motions to activate certain effects. Soon, the physical signals needed became nothing but mental stimuli and Maya could feel herself falling into understanding.

Behind her closed lids, Maya replayed memories to regress from her meditative state, hearing common phrases from her companions in her subconscious, like Salvador's maniacal laugh as he unleashed his leaden rampage, Zer0's metallic voice as he recited another haiku, Axton commanding his turret in the field, Gaige's cheerful squeal as Death-Trap was summoned, and finally Krieg's psychotic ramblings that soon became coherent messages. The Siren created a face to the Psycho's voice, imagining his expressions under his mask. From there it was a slippery slope downwards. Maya recreated all of her companion's motions, beginning to comprehend his body language, and soon remembered the event that took place yesterday.

The Siren startled herself back to consciousness, feeling her face heat up and her breath hitch in her throat. Zer0 placed his hand on Maya's back and projected a question mark in front of his visor. Maya hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I uh, revisited an unpleasant memory." She lied. The assassin shrugged and resumed his previous activity. Maya pushed herself off the ground and left the group to find something to take her mind off the sudden thoughts.

* * *

Krieg had found himself back inside his hut, away from everyone else like he often was. A part of him wanted to be involved with the going-on's with everyone else, but a greater part of him was worried that he would just screw everything up. He knew the danger in the situation was growing as they waited for Ellena to make a mistake. He could tell that everything was beginning to come to a close as the stakes became higher. Any mistake on his part could be the difference between life and death for his comrades.

" _I'm surprised they haven't taken us out yet. We're a liability now_."The Psycho huffed and stared at the doorway where a few passing figures would glance in from time to time.

"Haiiii there~" Tina squeaked and skipped inside. Krieg took a step back, "Ya should be out there with everyone!" The Psycho shook his head and grunted, the young teen leaned forward and looked at him with a calculating eye. Krieg grew uncomfortable with Tina's sudden seriousness, he shifted his gaze around and twitched slightly. A wide smile broke across the explosives expert's lips and her eyes lit up.

"Oh there you are Craig." She giggled and waggled a finger.

" _Craig?_ " Krieg asked internally.

Tina poked a finger to the Psycho's scarred torso and looked up still smiling, "I knew ya gots outta there alive. Sure, ya maybe kinda cray-cray and insane in da membrane, but y'know~ whatevah~"

"Salt...the wound?"

" _She remembers us?_ "

"Ew, that's pretty nas-taaaay. But even if ya got real messed up, ya still you Craig. No worries 'kay?" She motioned for him to lean closer, which he obliged, and Tina tightly wrapped her arms around Krieg's neck, "Now go kick so serious ass!" She hopped away and twirled around.

"Tina? Are you in here?" Maya asked entering the shack, "Roland needed to talk to-Oh hey Krieg."

The Psycho straightened himself and gulped down the sudden lump in his throat, Tina shifted her gaze between the two Vault Hunters and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the Psycho. She giggled and nudged him in the gut before skipping out of the shack, leaving the two alone.

Krieg stared at Maya before zoning out, thinking about what Tina had just said to him. She was right, he was still himself, even if he was fucked up beyond all repair. But with the semi-sorted knowledge of his past, maybe he could keep his act together and not fall back into his murder-loving, blood-lusting monster self.

The Psycho's hands twitched and he jolted in place, how long had it been since he had actually killed something? At least a few days. A slow churning feeling in his veins was aiming to send him over the edge now. He could feel the blood rushing to his head as he thought about slaughter. Frenzied thoughts rushed through his mind, drowning his rational subconscious.

The Siren snapped her fingers in front of Krieg's face, "Hey...You alright there?" The Psycho shook his head and squinted at Maya, his heart still set on bloodshed. She placed a hand on his upper arm and felt his muscles tighten much like they did before he went on a rampage.

"Krieg, keep it together." She warned, "Come on Krieg, you've been doing so well. Just hold it out a little longer." The Psycho relaxed slightly.

"Hey...How about we take a little walk outside town? I'm getting a little stir crazy." Maya suggested, hoping to get his mind off killing for a bit so she could get him away from everyone else.

" _Yeah...outside..._ " The inner Krieg choked as if being strangled by the ideas of murder.

"TAKE ME OUTTA HERE! BLOOD MUST RAIN!" The Outer Krieg bellowed, Maya yanked his arm and quickly paced to the gate with her Psycho in tow. The two got a few strange looks from the others, but a mutual understanding that they shouldn't interfere seemed to get through.

"Open up!" Maya ordered the man at the gate, who quickly obeyed and watched as the pair swiftly headed out into the open expanse of desert. Krieg could slowly feel his control slipping from his grasp as the seconds passed. He revved his Axe and snarled.

* * *

A loud explosion stopped everything and all attention focused to the Fast Travel station in town.

Masses of malformed Phantom Psychos materialized from the Ethernet and began to scream profanity as they wriggled their excess limbs. Maya tightened her grip on her partner's arm and with all her strength, swung him around towards the horde of mutated bandits. Krieg stumbled slightly then regained his footing and held his weapon up high as his vision grew redder and redder. In his tunnel vision, it was only him and the disfigured enemies.

Everyone else ran for cover, fearing that Krieg may attack them instead.

With a war cry, Krieg swung his spinning blade into the messes of limbs and bodies, causing them to seemingly explode. He laughed manically as he carved into flesh and blood rained down on him like an April shower. As the carnage subsided, the Psycho fell to his knees and drew his attention to the only figure left.

Maya.

The Siren just stood there with an unreadable expression. She paced her way up to the Psycho and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Feeling better now?" She asked, Krieg nodded and smiled under his mask.

The Fast Travel whirred to life once more, the bulky figure of Ellena pieced together, and the Savage now stood in the corpses of her troops. An annoyed snarl passed her lips as she raised her claw.

The Siren and the Psycho looked over at the Phantom woman. Ellena stood ready to fight.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Maya laughed as her allies spilled from their hiding places and drew their weapons to aim at the enemy.

* * *

The Crimson Raiders all stood around the now apprehended Savage as one of Verner's "Brother's" set up the communication to Marlene.

"She'll never take what you have to offer." Ellena hissed at Roland.

The screen flickered to life, revealing the enemy Siren.

"What is it Ellena?" Marlene asked. The Savage's expression automatically fell slightly.

"We have your right hand." The Soldier stated. The Phasecontroller bit her lip and smiled.

"Okay. Fine. Just kill her then."

Ellena choked, "W-What?! I...I...Darling...Why?"

The holo-screen fizzled out. A silence fell over the group.

"I hope you're all comfy cozy up in Opportunity. With all those left over rejects." the Savage mumbled heartbrokenly.

"Keep her in confinement," Roland ordered, Salvador and Brick grabbed the prisoner and removed her from the room, "She might have more to say."


	14. Bloody Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I ignore my original idea for this and end up with a much better result.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya everyone. Long time no see. A lot has been going on recently...  
> [ Like a lot](http://white-wolf-terra.deviantart.com/journal/Personal-Life-Update-460708725)  
> But um, enjoy. I'll see you at the end of this chapter.

 

With Ellena apprehended, it was only a matter of time before everyone would be taking on the leader of the Phantoms. The Raiders took to busting around and transporting themselves between Fyrestone and Sanctuary on damage control. Krieg however, was not interested in traveling to a mildly populated place where everyone pretty much wanted him gone, so he took to meandering once again around the dusty roads of Fyrestone. He started to pass Ellena's cell when he heard her call out.

" Hey, you there. Brute." She wasn't exactly demanding, just strongly voiced, "Come here."

" _Careful Krieg_." His inner voice warned.

"I KNOW I KNOW SHUT UP!" The Psycho swatted at his scalp and took a step towards the cell.

The Savage shuffled closer to the bars and rested on her knees with her hands folded. She looked up at him with her amber-red eyes and sighed. Krieg balled his fists and stared down the woman, his hidden expression turning into a scowl. The longer he kept his gaze fixed to her, the more he wanted to kill her, here was the woman who had knocked him and Maya out cold right in arms length.

"It's hard to love a Siren." She exhaled. Krieg was taken aback and grunted, "It's funny, I remember meeting her back on Terraflorus. She tried to overthrow my cannibals. Then she offered to have me help her in her expedition to rule the universe. Of course any chance to dominate got me going and soon we were on our way. I had a plan to overthrow her myself once we got established, but when she showed me what she could do..." Ellena's expression hardened, "Years passed, and I became another toy to her."

The Psycho cocked his head, " _She was aware?_ "

"But as long as I felt I was some use to conquering, I didn't mind, in fact, I loved it. The feeling of being controlled. I'll prove myself to her. I'm not worthless."

Krieg felt a stirring in his stomach.

"You remind me of me in my younger days. So hell-bent on destruction." The savage laughed to herself, "Ah, but why am I telling _you_ all of this. I mean...It's not going to matter in the end." Her eyes dropped to the ground and she sighed angrily.

"The putrid sorrows of your sins has brought forth a reckoning." The Psycho grumbled.

"Yeah, now get outta here you monster meat wad."

* * *

 

"Ayyy shawty." Tina swaggered up to Maya as the Siren telekinetically lifted some rubble out of the streets of Sanctuary. She turned around and tossed the debris out of the way, raising a brow in question.

"What is it Tina?" Maya began to phase a few cans into the air.

"Ya have the hots fo Craig don'cha?" Tina was never one to beat around the bush, Maya dropped the garbage as well did her jaw.

"Y-You mean Krieg?"

"Das what I said, Craig. Now, answer mah question. Yes or no?"

Maya was speechless. Sure, she felt close to the Psycho, in some form she couldn't quite describe. But she was pretty sure it wasn't in some romantic sense of the word.

"Cause I mean, ya always with him. An ya both got this look." The teen gave a knowing look and smirked.

The Siren still stood silently, Tina pursed her lips in a pout and huffed.

"A'ight shawty. I see how's it is. Imma just throw this out there, but he needs you, and I'm pretty sure you need him too. Trust me, I know these things~" And with that, the demolitions expert skipped away from Maya, leaving her still speechless.

The Phaselocker lifted and tossed more debris, while milling over what the young girl had implied.

"Well damn." Maya grumbled.

* * *

 

Roland picked himself up out of the dust and spat out some blood as he rose to his feet. In front of him Ellena had broken from her restraints and stood tall with a gleam of murder in her eyes. The Soldier drew his gun and sidestepped the Savage before firing two shots into the Phantom. But she was un-phased, the lead Raider deployed his turret then pulled out his ECHO.

"Everyone, the bitch is on the loose." He reported calmly and pulled out his shotgun.

But the Savage ignored his threat as she charged at a few of Verner's brothers and slashed her claw cleanly through them, devouring their shredded limbs shortly after, and releasing a loud war cry that paralyzed everyone in a six foot radius. Ellena stared viciously at Roland and pointed a bloodied finger at him and howled again before pulling out something that looked like a stash deck. She tossed the box-like device into the air, allowing it to digistruct into a small flying Constructor that instantly began deploying commandeered Loaders.

The Soldier stepped back towards the fast travel as his companions began to materialize. Each Vault Hunter quickly loaded their guns and stood ready, awaiting their leader's command.

"Raiders. Rain Hell on them." Roland pumped his shot gun and fired a shot into the core of a EXP Loader before it could burst. The others cried their own battle cries and charged in.

Brick, Salvador, and Krieg took to fighting up close and personal with the Savage's new army. The two Berserker classes took turns charging their weights into the robot soldiers, launching the scrap metal opponents into their allies, and tearing apart robotic appendages and using them to further add to the beatings. The Psycho however, decided that he was going to go big. With a growl, Krieg rushed the Savage woman and hurled himself against her, causing her to stumble back.

" _Careful big guy. Remember what she did before._ "

"CAN'T DOWN THE MEAT. MEAT IS FOREVER!" The Psycho bellowed and smacked his head against his target.

Mordecai and Zer0 found higher vantage points to pick off any stray bots. Talon took to the skies with a flock of other aerial beasts and began dive bombing on the constructing bots while the two snipers fired at the flying constructor.

Roland and Axton deployed their turrets to provide a constant shower of bullets while they maneuvered about to get closer to the Savage. Gaige summoned Death-Trap and hopped on his shoulder, shooting wildly at some GUN Loaders while her creation slashed through some larger enemies.

"Lil! Maya! Get that constructor!" The Soldier ordered as he knocked a BUL Loader back with the force of his gun.

The two Sirens exchanged glances and smiled. Maya planted her feet in the dust and honed her gaze on the mobile constructor that was flying about constructing two Super Badass Loaders.

"Be...QUIET!" She commanded and threw her tattooed hand, trapping the constructor in an elemental Phase Orb. The sudden interruption halted the construction of one Loader, but was too late to stop the other Super Badass from being deployed into the battle.

The Phaselocker cupped her hands and hunched over while her Siren partner dashed up to her and planted a foot in her hands. Maya lifted the Phasewalker up and out of her hands, sending her into the air. Lilith's form flickered before vanishing into thin air. There was a moment of silence before the red-haired Siren reappeared and set out a nova of energy that destroyed the constructor and several lesser Loaders. She quickly Phased herself back to the ground and pulled out an SMG to join the fray.

Now everyone's attention was on the Super Badass Loader, which uttered out a metallic "Uh Oh" before being demolished in seconds.

"THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE!" Mordecai hollered, hopping from his perch.

The Raiders regrouped then looked at the brawl between Krieg and Ellena.

* * *

 

The Savage and the Psycho had been in a nonstop brawl for the past several minutes, their guns scattered about after successfully disarming each other. Both were now beginning to stagger around slightly in exhaustion as the battle began to take its toll. But Krieg couldn't give in yet.

" _THIS IS FOR CAPTURING US!"_

"PUNISHMENT FOR TAKING MEAT!" Krieg bellowed, forcing his fist hard into the Savage's ribs. The hyena-like woman sputtered and slashed her claws across his arm, causing bright crimson to spray from his arteries.

The other Vault Hunters slowly moved in, their guns raised to fire.

"Should we?" Lilith looked over at her leader. Roland shook his head and lowered his gun, motioning the others to do the same.

The Psycho ignored his injury and charged forth once more, Ellena swung her heel hard around and into Krieg's side. He stumbled for a moment the regained his footing and thrashed his Buzz Axe forward, catching Ellena on her clawed wrist before tearing off the appendage.

"FOR TAKING MEAT PALS!"

The Savage shrieked in agony as her hand was torn from her body. Her eyes hazed over in an indescribable rage. She paused in her attacks and stared at the bleeding stump.

" _Yes. That's right. MAKE HER PAY FOR WHAT SHE DID._ " The inner Krieg commanded. The Psycho picked up the disembodied claw and paced to his opponent. Ellena looked up and released another war cry that caused Krieg to hesitate in his movements for a second. She sprung up and tackled the psychotic Vault Hunter to the ground, using her one hand to grasp his throat.

"No one beats me." She snarled and dove at Krieg's mask, tearing it off much like a hyena tears of the flesh of its scavenged meal, "And just think.. I'll kill your friends. Then, your girlfriend. That gorgeous Siren. And I'll make you _watch_."

The Psycho shook and thrust his feet up and into Ellena's stomach, sending her flying off of him and landing with a thud. He clutched the claw, sprinted towards the fallen Savage, and impaled her in the shoulder with the melee weapon. Ellena cried out again as the Psycho drew the claw from her shoulder and proceeded to stab her again in the other shoulder.

He repeated this process, over and over, bringing the metal claw closer and closer to her heart with every stab, and reveling in Ellena's gurgling screams. Blood began to pool around the two of them, staining the light sand a deep ruby. Both of Krieg's sides synced to the rhythm of revenge, the symphony of slaughter.

"NO TOUCH FRIENDS!" Krieg screamed with almost full coherency as he punctured one lung.

"NO TOUCH ME!" Another lung impaled. The Savage vomited blood and began to choke as she bled from the inside out.

Krieg raised the claw high above his head and smiled wickedly, a crazed gleam in his dark eyes, "NO TOUCH MAYA!" He brought the blades through his victim's heart, causing an explosion of blood to erupt onto his face.

* * *

 

The other Vault Hunters stood in stunned silence. Not because Krieg had brutally murdered one of the toughest Phantoms, oh no, he had brought down creatures far larger than himself. They were stunned at how coherent their companion had just become. Often times the Psycho's words were nothing but ramblings of profanity and desires of riding meat bicycles, but no, it was clear what he wanted to get across.

Maya felt her face heat slightly. "... _he needs you, and I'm pretty sure you need him too..._ " Tina's words echoed in the Siren's mind. Memories began to fill her thoughts as she recalled the times they had defended each other, whether it was with words on out in battle. She looked up at her companion who was still repeatedly stabbing the fresh corpse in the chest and without much thought began to jog to him, ignoring the calls of warning from her other team mates.

As she drew closer, Maya could hear Krieg uttering the phrase "Don't touch her" over and over as he continued to weakly stab at the body, now becoming slightly sluggish from the after effects of the long fight and severe blood loss.

Instinct began to take over as the Siren, against all better judgment, stopped the Psycho when she loosely brought her arms around his neck.

"Krieg. She's dead. She can't get me now." Maya exhaled and rested her head against his, praying that her friend wouldn't suddenly snap on her. The Psycho looked at her with a sideways glance with a smile cracking across his scarred lips.

"Good." He huffed huskily, "No ghost touches meat maiden." Krieg's split halves began to fall out of rhythm. But instead of becoming a discordant ruckus of insanity, they flowed like a loud and strong harmony and a soft yet stable melody.

"Right." The Siren murmured.

They didn't even notice the other Vault Hunters leaving.

* * *

 

A warm sensation grew between the two. Maya found herself smiling for some odd reason as her face heated more. The Psycho placed a hand around the small of his Siren's back and another against her cheek as he brought his dark gaze to her stormy one. His eyes softened slightly as he scanned over her features, as if to make sure she was really there. Krieg felt his intestines twist in knots.

" _Yeah, feel that? That's what I felt when we first met her._ "

A jolt sped up Krieg's spine and sent his nerves into overdrive as Maya ghosted a healing hand over his wound.

" _Say thank you._ " The Psycho darted his eyes around a few times and opened his mouth to speak as if searching for the words, but instead, acted.

On an impulse, Krieg quickly pecked his lips onto Maya's then pulled away. The Siren felt her face become an inferno while her body was racked with chills. Such a reaction also affected the Psycho.

" _Oh. My. God. That felt like heaven._ "

"Excuse me, if you two are done over there." Axton's voice interjected over both their ECHO's, "Could you come back to HQ, we still have one more to take down."

"On our way." Maya replied, sounding a little lighter.

"Ready?" She looked back at Krieg with a smile.

The Psycho bopped his forehead to the Siren's then planted another quick kiss to her tingling lips.

"I'll...uh...take that as a 'yes'."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, you made it this far.  
> So, this chapter is actually, a bit of a self-help chapter.  
> I was feeling really down. So what was going to actually be a really boring chapter with no action besides a  
> brokenhearted Ellena committing suicide.  
> Became a sicknasty fight of vengeance and blood.
> 
> Actually, this fic is something of a lot of firsts.  
> I've never written a Canon x Canon fic.  
> Nor have I written something this indepth.   
> Or had romance. Like, I suck at romance.  
> But here we are.   
> ahhhh
> 
> I love you all, your feedback is greatly appreciated and keeps me going.
> 
> See you later sweet potaters


	15. Backlash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I lost all my data to this fic and got hella pissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. It returns!   
> Ghosts and Raiders is back!  
> And SHIT. GOES. DOWN.

The soft buzz of chatter in the Raider’s HQ was filled with questions on how to go about their next plan of attack. The Vault Hunters tossed around ideas like a basketball.

“Why not just have Tina level the place with explosives?” Brick suggested.

“We’d have to get close. And with her power…well I don’t wanna chance it.” Roland glanced at the thirteen year old who was curled up on the couch and cradling her backpack tightly.

“Well, why not give everyone cybernetic enhancements?” Axton tinkered with the mod on his shoulder.

Gaige hopped from her seat on the control panel, “As awesome as that would be, there’s a shit-ton of things to think about. Like will your body actually accept the new limb, will your brain fry itself trying to use the thing, tech-sickness, and time. Like, look at my arm,” the Mechromancer raised her mechanical arm and wiggled her fingers, “that little movement used to tire me out. It takes a _lot_ to operate cybernetics.”

“I agree as well/ cybernetics are toughest/ I too know firsthand.” Zer0 added.

A silence fell over the group. Strategy was difficult when your opponent has mind control abilities and the remains of Handsome Jack’s robot army.

“Let’s look at this one step at a time.” The Soldier spoke up once more, “We know Marlene’s in Opportunity, we know she can Phasecontrol only _organic_ creatures, we don’t know how far her influence reaches, or how many people she can control at once.”

Another conversation between the Raiders started up.

Maya leaned back and pursed her lips in thought; a strange tingling sensation erupted in the back of her head. She swatted at the feeling with a soft grunt that caught Krieg’s attention. The Psycho looked over at his Siren and noticed a strange darkness beginning to engulf the back of her head. His eye darted between her and the sleeping Tina as he began to mentally debate.

“ _Shit. Shit. It’s just like what happened to that kid. Okay, warn everyone._ ”

He looked at Maya again, only to notice her eyes growing hazy as her tattoos began to flicker a deep indigo.

The Siren however, began to feel numb in her hands as the tingling grew stronger. The last thing she could sense was a flash of indigo and Krieg roaring something.

* * *

 

Krieg picked himself off the ground and groaned. He felt something scramble from under him.

“Oh no…” Tina’s voice was shaking slightly as she stared up at the headquarters.

A burning rage filled the Psycho, one that could have sent him on a rampage, one that _should_ have sent him on a rampage.

“ _Hold it together. Save it for the deserving._ ” The inner Krieg ordered, and luckily his insane side obeyed.

“WHY AREN’T MY FINGERS IN SOMEONE’S EYEBALLS?!”

A figure staggered to the balcony and slumped over the rail. The Psycho twitched and knelt down, motioning Tina to climb on his back. The teen obeyed and wrapped her hands tightly around Krieg’s harnesses.

“SAVE MEAT PAL!” Krieg screamed and charged to the building, hopping onto a ledge then onto the rail of the balcony. The person who was limply hanging over said balcony was none other than Gaige. Farther back in the room Zer0 was heard groaning softly.

The usually peppy Mechromancer huffed and turned her head to look at her team mate.

“H-hey…oof…What just…” Gaige attempted to get up, but soon fell again; Krieg carefully stabilized her, “Thanks. What just…happened?” She looked back at the Number and watched as he staggered to his feet, a large “ :( “ over his cracked visor.

“Marlene that huge bitch/ used her powers to get us / I wonder how though.” The frowny emoticon morphed into a question mark.

Sanctuary was unusually silent for such a calamity to have happened, the three Vault Hunters plus Tina all looked out to the town, noticing the fading remains of Marlene’s Phasecontrol. Citizens were collapsed on the ground, moaning groggily as the influence left.

“Dayyyum, that ho is OP.” Tina whined.

Zer0 hopped down to the streets and wandered through the light fog, making sure not to step on the fallen civilians. As he meandered, the assassin noticed something odd about the affected victims. He focused his gaze on one of the more drained citizens and scanned over them.

"Psychogenic shock/ not knocked unconscious/ merely put to sleep." Zer0 reported.

"Well...Now what?" Gaige asked, holding her head as she descended to the street.

"YOU KICK ASS!" Tina commanded furiously.

* * *

 

Bound arms, cuffed hands, chained feet, gagged mouth, and blind eyes. The sound of squealing feedback earned a loud muffled cry of agony from the figures also taken prisoner. Lights powered up, shining faintly through the blindfolds.

Maya shook her head, hoping to get a look at what was going on, but with no luck. Through the fabric she could make out figures bustling in front of her. The Siren felt the cold steel of a metal pole against her bare back. She wiggled her toes, finally understanding that she was suspended above the ground on a pole...naked.

" _Oh fuck. Where are we...What happened?"_ The Phaselocker tried to recall the previous events, but could only remember up to when she blacked out.

Switches flicked on, buttons were pressed, and more feedback resounded. A microphone reverberated and a soft voice spoke.

"Glad to see you're all up. The public hates a sleepy cast." Marlene cooed.

Salvador angrily spewed muffled profanity and rattled his excessive chains.

"What's that? ' _What public?_ ' Why your fans of course! Ever since your last appearance in my little chambers, and your escape..." She hissed the last word, "My recordings have gained billions, no quadrillions of fans. Ahhh all the eyes of this quadrant following me. Add that with some nice footage and oh-ho~"

Roland huffed. A phantom removed his gag. "Is that all you want? Fame?"

"I want ... Augh, men let them all see this."

Maya felt pair of hands remove her blindfold. She squinted from the sudden brightness and slowly adjusted. Her storm-grey eyes shifted from her vulnerable companions up to the Onyx-haired Siren leaning over her rise.

"I'm fairly sure you're aware of my... _ahem_...previous attempts."

The Commando laughed through his gag.

"Shush." Marlene hissed, "Well, on several of those planets, I noticed relics showing a Vault existed there. Sadly, I didn't have the key. And on this planet, the Warrior exists."

"Hate to break it to ya. But that thing's dead." The Soldier slightly smiled, "And the Key needs to be charged--"

"OH. MYGOD! This is why I _loathe_ hero-types like you all! You all think ' _Oh we're five steps ahead! We know it all!_ ' I DIDN'T DEDICATE MY LIFE TO THIS FOR NOTHING! I DIDN'T KILL MY SISTER FOR NAUGHT!" The Siren's eyes flickered an inky black, "I FUCKING KNOW. DAMN IT!"

" _Not even five minutes and she's already losing her temper...sheesh, even Lilith has more control than her._ " Maya criticized mentally.

An ex-Hyperion Combat Engineer scuttled in and up to Marlene. He whispered something to her and the Siren's eyes widened a fraction before she dismissed him.

"Alright..." She breathed, "Okay...Looks like it's time to go live."

The Phasecontroller snapped her fingers, summoning several cameras to power alive. On surrounding screens, the Vault Hunters could see themselves bound and exposed to whatever Marlene had in store for them.

* * *

 

The three remaining Vault Hunters stood reconstructed in Opportunity, guns loaded and raring to go. Holo-screens fizzled up around the water-top city, premiering the captured Raiders. Everyone took a good look at the situation. Krieg angrily swung his axe through the screen, disrupting it's broadcast.

" _That's disgusting._ " The inner self chided.

"Let's move." Zer0 ordered and pointed towards the city.

The group quickly paced through the streets, making quick work of anyone who stood in their way. Krieg made it his personal mission to destroy every projector in the area. He sliced through another bundle of wires and watched as sparks flew out. The Psycho rampaged forth, his Buzz Axe high over his head before slicing apart the oncoming wave of attackers. Tina cheered him on, ignoring the rain of blood.

"Okay...So if I were an attention whoring Siren...where would I..." Gaige looked at the buildings, trying to spot anything that looked like a antenna of sorts, "Oh." She stared to the top of the tallest structure, where Buzzards were hovering around a large interstellar satellite. The Mechromancer jogged up to Zer0 and tapped his shoulder.

The Assassin took a shot, splattering a Phantom's head into oblivion, before turning around. Gaige pointed to the Buzzards. "Think you can get them?" Zer0 just nodded and set up his next shot.

A soft humming interrupted the group as a large Holo-screen opened on all four sides of the tallest structure. Marlene stepped into the frame, her expression soft and caring.

"Greetings dear friends." She cooed in a voice so sickeningly sweet that Gaige began making a gagging motion, "It has been a while. But, if you all remember our... _friends_ here." The screen panned to the captured Raiders, "These...Dangerous monsters, some who have caused great damage or have the potential to cause great damage."

Krieg stopped and stared up at the projection as clips of the past few months streamed. Even with the Raiders being severely underpowered; the Phantoms were somehow able to be portrayed as the victims.

"And as of late..." Marlene sniffled and allowed a few tears to fall, "They've driven my family to their graves." The image of Sienna pulling the trigger on herself flashed, "My dear sister, deciding to take her life at only ten..." Another image from Ellena's view as Krieg was impaling her lungs, "My loving wife killed by a mass murderer..." She sobbed uncontrollably, "These are the people in our universe. Murderers who would kill innocents for no reason! This is why, I Marlene, am asking that we unite under one name!"

(line)

" _Oh my god this bitch has lost it._ " Maya sighed mentally, " _Okay Maya, whatever she has planned...we can endure...we can do this_." The Siren shifted her gaze to her team mates as they struggled to free themselves.

"--and now, to bring our offenders to justice!" The lights powered up on the captives.

"Allllrighty. Now, any questions before we begin?" The Phasecontroller smiled.

Everyone screamed furiously through their gags. The Siren's grin grew wider and she snapped her fingers. A line up of soldiers marched in with carts of various materials, instruments, and creatures.

"Now, we can make this fast...If you just tell me where the Key is."

Roland looked side to side, catching everyone's gaze. The gags fell from their mouths allowing anyone to speak an answer. But they were suddenly silent. Stoic expressions fell on the Raiders faces.

"Fine then. Gentlemen, let's serve some justice."

The soldiers took positions in front their respective captives. Maya swallowed thickly as the soldier in front of her began sliding needles under her tattooed skin. A singular gunshot and an agonized scream caught her attention as Axton's turret began slowly firing at him. The Commando hissed in pain as a stream of blood flowed from the wound.

"Now, does anyone want to talk?"

But the prisoners remained tight lipped.

"Very well, let the show begin." Marlene giggled.

* * *

 

Chaos erupted on the screen as the captive Vault Hunters were subjected to new torture. There was no sound though, everything being broadcasted was suddenly muted. The sight alone was enough to make even the toughest fighter cringe.

Krieg watched in horror as Maya was being pumped with Eridium so fast that her body couldn't respond properly. In moments the veins under her pale flesh turned a deep violet as bruises began to form from her fingers that soon started to spread up her arms.

The Psycho sprinted off towards the broadcasting building. This situation had become too familiar for the Psycho, and he was done with it. He broke through the doors of the building and allowed all sense and reason to escape as his vision grew red. The sound of his victims screaming was nothing to the rage in his mind. No amount of bloodshed was going to satisfy his thirst. Krieg had fallen so far into his insanity that he didn't even realize that he had sprinted to the top of the tower and was now standing in front of Marlene's "Studio" in a pool of blood.

After a few ragged breaths, the Psycho pressed a hand to the door.

" _Ready?"_

* * *

 

"OH COME ON! JUST SPEAK UP ALREADY! LOOK! THAT MIDGET MEXICAN OVER THERE IS ABOUT TO BE TORN APART! SNIPER BOY IS BEING PECKED TO PIECES! SAY SOMETHING!" The Phasecontroller shrieked.

The broadcast crackled. Marlene turned around and her eyes widened.

* * *

 

"HAHA! I TOLD THEM HACKING SURVEYORS WOULD COME IN HANDY!" Gaige cackled as she played her own side of the previous battles. She called up her own set of holo screens from her HUD and watched as Marlene's broadcast lost views by the billions. Zer0 watched as the numbers fell into the triple...double...single digits. Once the counter hit zero, it was time to move.

* * *

 

"I...I...STOP!" Marlene shrieked, halting her torture, "This...This wasn't supposed to..." A thick fog gathered around her tattooed arm as she mumbled incoherently. The Siren then suddenly stood up straight and waltzed over to Maya, pulling out several tubes from her skin. The Phaselocker exhaled sharply as she shifted her eyes to her now bleeding wounds.

"You know. There's a saying, 'shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars'." The Phantom leader hissed as she slid the needles under her flesh, "Well, I've landed one too many times on those stars. Burned myself hundreds of times. And you know what I realized? There are millions of people out there who have done the same. And they all want one thing, to reach the moon. Well I thought, 'maybe, just maybe, one day all of us burnt souls would come together and get to the moon.' Well...now I know we can't. Why you ask? People like . The Siren then suddenly stood up straight and waltzed over to Maya, pulling out several tubes from her skin. The Phaselocker exhaled sharply as she shifted her eyes to her now bleeding wounds.

"You know. There's a saying, 'shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars'." The Phantom leader hissed as she slid the needles under her flesh, "Well, I've landed one too many times on those stars. Burned myself hundreds of times. And you know what I realized? There are millions of people out there who have done the same. And they all want one thing, to reach the moon. Well I thought, 'maybe, just maybe, one day all of us burnt souls would come together and get to the moon.' Well...now I know we can't. Why you ask? People like _you_. The ones that keep us from the moon." She poked the last needle into the tattoo on her chest, "So then I realized, 'we need a weapon'. And I found it, that Vault Key. And now that all the others don't want to get to the moon, it'll be just me. But that's okay. It's hard to control the universe with others suffocating you." The Siren paced over to a control panel and typed in a command. Slowly, liquid Eridium began seeping under her skin, and thickened the fog into a sludge, "So here's what's going to happen, since you all have been such great sports, I'll kill you first, then everyone on this planet, and get my Key. Sound nice?" She held out her hand and released tendrils of the black sludge onto the captive Raiders, allowing it to crawl into their wounds and slowly take control.

"NO!" Krieg bellowed as he barged in, along with Zer0 and Gaige as they crashed through the windows. But Marlene was un-phased, she flicked her wrist and sent her control ability to the enhanced Vault Hunters. The three kept advancing, Marlene simply typed in a new command into her panel. The Eridium flowed stronger, sending her powers into overdrive. The Siren shrieked and threw her arm forward, sending her victims thrashing about in pain.

Krieg roared again as he felt Marlene's control suddenly strengthen, her influence clawed in the back of his mind like an animal in a cage. A shriek quickly caught his attention and the Psycho looked over to see Maya's wounds now tearing themselves wider and deeper along with everyone else's. He went to move, but soon found his body resisting him as his vision grew cloudy.

" _No...No NO! WE DID NOT COME THIS FAR TO LOSE NOW!_ " The inner Krieg defied, but his body remained immobile.

"Alright...That's better." Marlene sang then ordered her soldiers to release the Vault Hunters from their restraints. Her prisoners all stood to attention unwillingly, blood streaming from their wounds, "Now, I could just have you bleed out, but that's no fun." She snapped her fingers and her eyes and tattoos flickered. Maya felt a sudden pressure filling her skull, like someone was filling her head with water. The other Vault Hunters all groaned and gasped as they too were subjected to the pain. Even Gaige, Zer0, and Krieg had fallen victim to the influence.

"OHHHHH Isn't this just gr-great?! Isn't t-hi-s...W-ond-er...ful...?" The Phantom Siren stammered out. A mixture of Eridium and blood began pouring from the orifices of her face, her large onyx wings unfolded and burst, opening a hole in her back. Marlene slumped over, then fell to the floor with a wet thud. She was silent for a moment before writhing over onto her back and shrieking like a banshee as she clawed at her head. A muffled crunch resounded and the Siren's eyes rolled back while a steady stream of blood and fluids emptied from her ears.

The other Vault Hunters all slumped over as they too succumbed to pain.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hella long chapters ftw.  
> I was really unsure about this chapter.  
> But you know.  
> Gotta keep on keeping on.  
> Comment, rate, and review.


	16. Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumb Luck. Lots of it

Alone in the HQ, Tina was pacing around anxiously biting her stubs of nails. Her friends should have been back by now. She stopped pacing and stared at the holo-table, her backpack clutched in her arms.

"Please please please…please…please…" She stammered over and over.

A shrill siren startled the teen, warning lights suddenly flashed on all the screens, a three-dimensional map formed on the table. A mess of blinking red lights flashed in the city of Opportunity. Tina's eyes grew wide and she dropped her bag. Her own personal stack deck fell out and the teen quickly picked it up. She flicked through the items before digistructing her ECHO. With shaking hands she switched it on to an open frequency.

"E'rybody! Tina here! Everyone's in trouble in Opportunity! HELP!"

Floods of replying messages nearly deafened the girl.

"SHOOSHASHOOSHA! WE GOTTA GO NOW!" She hollered.

* * *

Darkness. Maya swore her eyes were open, but all she could see was nothing. She was in so much pain she couldn't even feel it anymore. The blood that was pooling around her probably wasn't even hers. The Siren simply lay there, feeling the forced Eridium race in her veins. She wondered how long it would be until her body gave up, a part of her wished it would right now, but a larger part urged her to hold on.

" _This is it Maya. This is how we're going to die. Nearly overdosed on Eridium and naked."_ The Vault Hunter accepted her fate.

Darkness. It didn't seem so frightening anymore. The thought of dying with no hopes of respawn was suddenly not intimidating. Thinking about how she would soon be nothing but a cold cadaver on the steel floor sent icicles up her spine, but these icicles soon melted as a dull warmth surrounded her. The sudden sensation didn't startle her, in fact she welcomed it. Now in a world of silence, darkness, and warmth, she was ready.

* * *

It was too damn bright, but Krieg endured it as he held Maya against his chest. He could feel her heart pounding against her bruised flesh and the icy aura radiating off her tattoos that shone like the stars. He held her tighter and tried to move, but the blast must have shattered his legs. For when Krieg attempted to shift his calves, an agonizing stabbing sensation shot through his nerves, making him wince ever so slightly.

" _Great. Our legs are shattered_."

Footsteps padded into the room, panicked chatter buzzed like a swarm of hornets, and Krieg stiffly turned his head to see blurry figures running about. Muffled commands floated around the busy room as bodies were soon dragged out. The Psycho felt several pairs of hands pull Maya's dying body from his grasp. He thrashed wildly and growled.

"Craig. Craig. Is cool kay? Everybody's here. We gonna fix dis shit." Tina patted Krieg on the mask and made shooshing noises, "I'll get'cha back wit cha girl in a bit."

The wave of exhaustion finally caught up and Krieg felt his eyelids grow heavy and shut.

* * *

The next few hours were spent in nothing but sheer silence as volunteers obediently scurried about trying their damnedest to aid the Vault Hunters in any way possible. Anyone with basic knowledge of first aid was instantly recruited to attempt in saving the heroes. Blood was transfused, vitals were checked, and numerous stitches were sewn.

Sutures ran like train tracks around Salvador's arms and ankles as several "nurses" pushed his torn ligaments back to proper. Axton winced as he awoke to bullets being carefully removed from his muscles.

"Can't say this is the worst situation I've been in..." The Commando forced a chuckle to try and break the tension.

Roland helped in wrapping his own cast around his near-shattered ribs, he hissed in pain as he did so. Gaige growled in discomfort as she cautiously reconnected her wires to the nerve-ports of her prosthetic. Mordecai swabbed disinfectant into the punctures on his arms and chest. Brick sat stoically as several volunteers gingerly poured water over the corrosion wounds to stop the acid from eating away at his flesh.

Zer0 remained hidden from sight and Krieg-now awake-stared at the two Sirens being tended to.

Lilith lay unmoving on a stretcher as her form flickered in and out of realities, proving difficult for the volunteers trying to set her up on IVs. Then he looked over to Maya as Zed attempted to siphon the Eridium out of her veins. He tensed up and hardened his gaze, on the edge of attacking the medic as he worked and as Maya unconsciously winced.

* * *

For everyone else, today was probably the closest to the end of days, but for Tannis-yeah, okay it was still really bad-she was occupied with the fallen Siren a few yards away. With quick hands, the archeologist set up everything she needed to take samples, photos, and anything she deemed important to learning about Sirens. She stared at the gaping hole in Marlene's back, and the blast marks that burned from flesh to metal in the shape of two energy wings. She investigated the blast closely, noticing some sort of residue left behind, and snapped on a pair of gloves.

With a tiny brush and container, Tannis swept the drying residue for later inspection. The curious archeologist poked and prodded around the deceased Phasecontroller's cadaver, plucking off various samples such as skin, hair, blood, bone, and a tooth or two. She took out her camera and snapped photo after photo of the damage.

"Tannis, we're moving out." A citizen approached.

"Oh...Well can you help me move my specimen to a stretcher?" The Archeologist looked up at the citizen with faint excitement in her eyes.

* * *

If you were to ask anyone in Sanctuary what happened over the next three days after the "Siege on Marlene", most would say they don't know or don't remember, some would probably get that distant look and grit their teeth. For those three days were to be known as the "Savage 72".

Once the Vault Hunters had been transported back to the floating city, signals from approaching Buzzards flooded the radar, the shield began glitching out, Lilith and Maya fell into critical condition, Krieg's pent up rampages sent him into a chaotic frenzy that left the citizens no choice but to try and herd the Psycho off to a secluded part of Sanctuary, and as for the other Vault Hunters, most tried to aid in the battle, but several couldn't even lift a gun in their current state.

As citizens tried their hardest to take down the swarm of Buzzards, and others attempted to keep Krieg from going on a murder spree in town square, the Psycho's heated blood boiled with rage.

" _held it...too long...those Buzzards...KILL THEM...KILL THE BUZZARDS._ " The inner Krieg growled painfully. He reached for his Buzz Axe to construct in his hand, but the digistruct device seemed to be malfunctioning from the blast. No matter, why use a tool when you can do just a much damage with your hands?

The Psycho launched himself up to the roof tops of the city and hefted his weight against a nearby Buzzard and smashed his arm into the cockpit. The pilot shrieked as Krieg crushed his skull in his grasp. As the aircraft plummeted, Krieg's rampage set in and his arm grew like that of a Badass'. With one fluid motion he threw the Buzzard into another and watched as the passengers fell to the ground. Krieg dropped after them and crushed two under his feet. He lifted a Bandit and swung it around at the other Bandits like a fly swatter and sprayed blood everywhere.

Maniacal laughter echoed through the streets as Krieg continued his slaughter.

" _THESE ARE THE DESERVING. THEY HURT THE INNOCENT. PAY 'EM PAY!_ "

The symphony of slaughter started its second movement. Krieg grabbed a sharpened pole and skewered it through some rubble like a make-shift mace. He slung the new weapon over his shoulder and scaled up the buildings once more. He noticed a wave of Bandits slowly advancing towards the center of town where the triage was set up. Right before Krieg was about to hurl into the fray, a hand grabbed his shoulder.

It was Zer0, his visor broken and shattered in places from the blast, revealing an angry red eye and metal jaw. Dried blood and oil stained his suit from various punctures.

"I'll take care of them/ destroy the flying bastards/ go on now kill them!" The Assassin commanded as he hopped down into the Bandit swarm and faded.

Krieg looked at the incoming flock and readied his "mace". As soon as one Buzzard came into range, Krieg swung the rubble weapon, causing both the aircraft and the "mace" to shatter upon impact, sending debris into the other crafts and sending them off into each other. The Psycho leapt from Buzzard to Buzzard, smashing his fist into the metal and pulling out their engines. As the aircrafts fell to the planet below he hurled the collected engines to the final wave, watching them explode like fireworks.

What felt like only a few hours of fighting, was really three days of nonstop murder.

* * *

Maya sat up on the stretcher, everything aching. She tossed the sheet from her body and instinctively plucked the needles from her arm, wincing as she did so.

" _I'm...not...dead_ " She realized and looked at her healing bruises. Sure, Maya felt like she had just been hit a few times by a train, but it was an upgrade from feeling like she was going to explode. The Siren shakily rose to her feet and attempted to tie the medical gown closed. It was almost like a dream, she was back in Sanctuary, not dead, and the sound of Tannis giving another one of her lectures floated in the air.

The Phaselocker stumbled outside to see the corpse of Marlene suspended on a rack much like DaVinci's "Venetian Man". The Archeologist held a pointer up to the dead Siren's tattoos.

"...And it seems to me she used Eridium to increase her influence range. More Eridum, larger range. Hence why she was able to knock us all out."

Gaige raised an arm, "What about Zer0, Krieg, Tina, and I?"

"Excellent question! With the exception of Tina, you all have alterations that require more of your brain capacity to be used, thus meaning she would have needed more Eridium to control you. Tina however, got removed from the immediate influence. Thus, she was safe."

"Speaking of which...Tina!" Roland called, and the spunky thirteen year old ran to his side, "Is the Key still safe?"

Tina smiled smugly, "It been safe. No probs shawty. Lily jus' put it back where it's safe~"

"WAIT, THAT'S WHERE IT'S BEEN?!" Mordecai hollered.

"The best place to hide something, is under one's nose."

"Excuse me, I'm educating you all on Sirens and how to not get killed by one!" Tannis piped up and swatted the ground with her pointer, "Anywho, all the Eridium she took in to try and end you all seemed to solidify her Phasecontrol aura, but that seemed to be as far as her body would take. Since what should have been energy wings from her back became physical...well let's just say she overdosed on Eridium and self destructed. And that's all, if I figure out anything else, you know where to find me."

The recovering Vault Hunters dispersed. Maya leaned back on a wall, already winded from just standing up. Tina skipped up to her with a knowing smile.

"Eyyy, I heards Craig was gettin' restless, can ya go calm 'im down? He's over by Moxxi's." The teen cooed.

"Uh...Y-yeah, let me just get dr-"

"NO TIME FOR THAT GURL, PEOPLE COULD BE IN DANGER! HUP TWO!" and with that Tina slapped the Siren on the bum causing Maya to yelp and quickly pace away.

* * *

" _What if she doesn't make it?_ " The question repeated over and over as Krieg occupied himself by digging through the dumpster. Krieg hoisted up his mask and gnawed on some fresh leftovers of spiced bladeflower stalks, " _Ew_ "

"The light maiden murders all defiance." The Psycho growled and smashed a can against his head. The sound of pattering feet caught his attention. Krieg spun around, not sure what to expect.

Maya stopped at a distance from Krieg, wary of his actions. He didn't give off any body language that he was going to be hostile, in fact, he looked rather welcoming. The stalk fell from Krieg's teeth and his face lit up like a puppy's after seeing its master return from a weeklong trip. Maya stepped back and tensed.

The Psycho bounced slightly and dashed towards the Siren, lifting her up in his arms and swung her around. He nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck and smiled against her skin. Maya froze as a fire ignited in her stomach and her breathing hitched. Krieg refused to let go. The Phaselocker wasn't sure what to make of his reaction.

That is, until Krieg softly muttered the word "Safe" and held her tighter.

" _He's been worried about me all this time..._ " Maya realized, a hot tear rolled down her cheek. What she felt was completely new to her. The Siren knew her other team mates cared, but not this way. She never experienced such a flood of emotion to be the result of the actions of one person. Before Maya would scoff at how cliché the novels she read made these encounters , but she finally understood why. The fire burned stronger and she took her trembling hands and pushed away Krieg's mask, staring into his eyes.

She rested her cheek to his and exhaled, "Yeah Krieg, I'm safe. We're all safe." then trailed light kisses across his scarred flesh to his lips and smiled.

 _Safe_.

-End-

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are. At the end of another story. I hope you all enjoyed reading. Even through all my ups and downs, delays, and hiatuses. You've all been a fantastic group.
> 
> I have to admit, I didn't think this fic would be so long...  
> I don't really know what to say, besides thank you.  
> While I do have Legendary in the works. It's going to be a little while before that comes into full swing.  
> But. Yeah. I'm not good at these ending things.
> 
> I just. You've all been great.  
> See ya later sweet potaters.

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun writing this chapter up! I hope you all enjoy this story as much as the last (maybe even more). This is going to be a KriegxMaya story, but there will be another pairing or two in here. Also, since this is a KriegxMaya based story, it's going to follow them mostly (I hope). But I spent like a week and a half fleshing out the new timeline/plot (yeah that's right, I've been planning this since about half way through the last one). So enjoy the first chapter of "Ghosts and Raiders". Weoop! Fluff. Cuteness, all that jazz. Explosions. Cookie points to those who get what this first chapter is based off of. This series is going to start out a little slow,but with reasons. I hope you enjoyed. If you did, leave a review. Share it with others, share the meaty-bicycle love.
> 
> Once again, you all rock! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Rate and Review~
> 
> Borderlands (c) Gearbox


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